The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

February 22, 1903

Sin is poison; sorrow is counterpoison.

As I was in my usual state, I saw my adorable Jesus for just a little, and He told me: "My daughter, sin offends God and wounds man, and since it was committed by man, and God was offended, in order for Him to receive full satisfaction, a Man and a God was needed to satisfy for it. The thirty years or so of my mortal life satisfied for the three ages of the world, for the three different states of law: natural, written, and of grace - and for the three different ages of each man: adolescence, youth and old age. I satisfied, earned and impetrated for all, and my Humanity serves as the staircase in order to ascend to Heaven. But if man does not go up this staircase through the exercise of his own virtues, in vain does he try to ascend, and he will render my works useless for himself."

On hearing sin being mentioned, I said: ‘Lord, tell me a little bit: why are You so pleased when a soul feels sorrow for having offended You?’ And He: "Sin is a poison that poisons the soul completely and renders her so disfigured as to make my image disappear from within her; sorrow destroys this poison and restores my image in her. True sorrow is a counterpoison, and since sorrow destroys the poison, it forms a void in the soul, and this void is filled by my grace. This is why I am pleased – I see the work of my Redemption risen again by means of sorrow."