The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

January 6, 1904

The human race is all one family; when someone does some good work and offers it to God, the whole human family participates in that offering and is present to God as if all were offering it.

Continuing in my usual state, blessed Baby Jesus came, and after He placed Himself in my arms and He blessed me with His little hands, He told me:  “My daughter, since the human race is all one family; when someone does some good work and offers something to Me, the whole human family participates in that offering and is present to Me as if all were offering it.  As for example, today, as the Magi offered their gifts to Me, I had all human generations present in their persons, and all participated in the merit of their good work.  The first thing they offered to Me was gold, and I, in return, gave them the intelligence and the knowledge of truth.  But do you know which gold I want now from souls?  Not material gold – no, but spiritual gold; that is, the gold of their will, the gold of their affections, of their desires, of their own tastes, the gold of the whole interior of man.  This is all the gold that the soul has, and I want it all for Myself.  Now, it is almost difficult for the soul to give this to Me without sacrificing and mortifying herself; and this is how myrrh, like electric wire, binds the interior of man, renders it more shining, and gives it the shades of multiple colors, giving all species of beauty to the soul.  But this is not all; it takes someone who maintains the colors and the freshness always alive, which, almost like fragrance and breeze, blow from within the soul.  It takes someone who offers and obtains greater gifts than the ones he gives; and it also takes someone who forces the One who receives and the One who gives to dwell in his own interior, keeping Him in continuous conversation and in continuous commerce with himself.  So, who does all this?  It is prayer, especially the spirit of interior prayer, which knows how to convert into gold, not only the internal works, but also the external works - and this is the incense.”