The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

January 5, 1907

True sanctity consists of receiving anything that may happen to us as a specialty of divine love.

Having read about a soul who had scruples about everything, and who feared that everything might be sin, I was thinking to myself: ‘And I? How lax I am! I too would like to think that everything may be sin so as to be more attentive not to offend the Lord.’ Then, when blessed Jesus came, He told me: "My daughter, this is nonsense, and the soul remains stuck on the path of sanctity, while true and solid sanctity consists of receiving anything which may happen to her or which she may be doing, be it even the most indifferent thing, as a specialty of divine love, just as it would be if she found a food enjoyable or disgusting. A specialty of love in the enjoyment, thinking that it is Jesus that produces that enjoyment in the food, and that He loves her to the point of giving her pleasure even in material things. A specialty of love in the disgust, thinking that He loves her so much as to produce that disgust for her in order to make her similar to Himself in mortification, giving her, Himself, a little coin that she can offer to Him. A specialty of divine love if she is humiliated, if she is exalted, if she is healthy, if she is infirm, if she is poor or rich. A specialty of love her breathing, her sight, her speech – everything, everything; and just as she must receive everything - everything as a specialty of divine love, she must give everything back to God as a special love of hers. So, she must receive the wave of the love of God, and must give to God the wave of her love. Oh, what a sanctifying bath is this wave of love! It purifies her, it sanctifies her, it makes her advance without her realizing it; it is a life more of Heaven than of earth. This is what I want from you. Sin, and the thought of sin, must not exist in you."