The Book of Heaven
—Unofficial Version—

May 9, 1907

Death and Purgatory of Luisa’s parents.

It has been a few months since I wrote, and with great repugnance, and only to obey I begin to write again. Oh, what a weight I feel! Only at the thought that I could say to my beloved Jesus: ‘See how I love You more, and how my love grows, since for love of You alone I submit myself to this sacrifice, and for as long as it lasts, I can also say that I love You more’ – thinking that I can say to my Jesus that I love Him more, I feel the strength to make the sacrifice to obey.

Now, since I do not remember everything distinctly, I will tell of the past, all together and confusedly, starting from where I left when I was praying that He would take my mother to Paradise without her touching Purgatory. Then, on March 19, the day dedicated to Saint Joseph, in the morning, while I was in my usual state, my mother passed from this life into the sphere of eternity; and blessed Jesus, allowing me to see her as He was taking her, told me: "My daughter, the Creator takes his creature."

At that moment, I felt I was being invested, inside and out, with a fire so alive that I felt my bowels, my stomach and all the rest burning; and if I would have something, it would convert into fire, and I would be forced to bring it up immediately after I had swallowed it. This fire consumed me and kept me alive. Oh, how I understood the devouring fire of Purgatory which, while consuming the soul, gives her life! The fire does the office of food, of water, of death and of life; but I was happy in that state. However, since I had only seen that Jesus had taken her, but He had not showed me where He had taken her, my happiness was not full, and from my very sufferings I would draw concern, since those would be the sufferings of my mother if she was in Purgatory. And seeing blessed Jesus, who in these days has almost never left me, I would cry and say to Him: ‘My sweet love, tell me – where did You take her? I am content that You have taken her away from us, because You keep her with Yourself; but if You do not have her with Yourself, this I do not tolerate, and I will cry so much until You content me.’ And He seemed to enjoy my crying; He would embrace me, He would sustain me, He would dry my tears, and would say to me: "My daughter, do not fear, calm yourself; and once you have calmed yourself I will let you see her, and you will be very pleased. Besides, you can have the certainty that I have contented you from the fire that you feel."

But I would continue to cry, especially when I would see Him, since I felt in my interior that something was still lacking to the beatitude of my mother; so much so, that the people who surrounded me, who had come because of the death of my mother, in seeing me cry so much, thinking that I was crying because of the death of my mother, were almost scandalized, thinking that I had moved away from the Divine Will, when, more than ever, I was swimming in this sphere of the Divine Will. But I do not appeal to any human tribunal, because it is false – only to the divine, which is full of truth. And good Jesus was not condemning me; on the contrary, He would compassionate me, and in order to sustain me, He would come more often, almost giving me a reason to cry more, because if He would not come, with whom was I to cry to impetrate what I wanted? The people were right because they judged from the outside; and then, after all, since I am so very cattiva [bad], it is no wonder that the others would be scandalized by me.

Then, after quite a few days, as good Jesus came, He told me: "My daughter, be consoled, for I want to tell you and show you where your mother is. Since before and after she passed away, you have suffered continuously that which I earned, did and endured for her good in the course of my life, she partakes in what I did and enjoys my Humanity. Only the Divinity is concealed from her, but It will shortly be unveiled to her as well, and the fire you feel, and your prayers, have served to exempt her from any other pain of senses, which all must have, because my justice, receiving satisfaction from you, could not take it from both." At that moment, I seemed to see my mother within an immensity which had no boundaries, and in it there were many delights and joys - for as many words, thoughts, sighs, works, sufferings, heartbeats…; in sum, for everything that the Most Holy Humanity of Jesus Christ contained. I understood that It is a second Paradise for the Blessed, and in order to enter the Paradise of the Divinity, all must pass through this Paradise of the Humanity of Christ. Therefore, the fact of having touched no other purgatory had been a most singular privilege for my mother, reserved for very few. However, I understood that even though she was not amid torments, but rather, amid delights, her happiness was not perfect, but almost halved.

May the Lord be always thanked.

I continued to suffer for twelve days, so much so, that I reduced myself to a thread of life, but since obedience intervened so that this thread of life might not break, I returned to my natural state. I don’t know, it seems that this obedience has a magic art over me, and that soon the Lord will make it lose its prestige in order to take me with Himself. I felt discontentment because obedience places itself in the middle so as not to let me pass into Heaven; and good Jesus told me; "My daughter, the Blessed in Heaven give me much glory because of the perfect union of their will with Mine, for their life is a product of my Will. There is so much harmony between them and Myself that their breath, their breathing, their movements, their joys and everything that constitutes their beatitude is the effect of my Will. However, I tell you that for the soul who is still a pilgrim, if she is united to my Will in such a way that she never detaches from It, her life is of Heaven, and I receive from her the same glory. Or rather, I take more pleasure and delight because what the Blessed do, they do without sacrifice and amid delights, while what the pilgrim souls do, they do with sacrifice and amid sufferings, and wherever there is sacrifice, I take more pleasure and I am more delighted. And the very Blessed, who live in my Volition, since the soul who is still a pilgrim and lives in my Will forms one Life with them, participate in the pleasure I take from the pilgrim soul."

Another time, I remember that since I feared that my state might be a work of the devil, good Jesus told me: "My daughter, the devil can also speak about virtue, but while speaking about virtue, he casts repugnance and hatred for virtue itself into the interior of the soul. So, the poor soul finds herself in contradiction, and without the strength to practice good. On the other hand, when it is I who speak, since I am the truth, my word is full of life; it is not sterile, but fecund, therefore while I speak I infuse love for virtue, and I produce that very virtue in the soul. In fact, the truth is strength, it is light, it is support and a second nature for the soul who lets herself be guided by the truth."

I continue by saying that only about ten days had passed from the death of my mother, when my father fell gravely ill, and the Lord made me understood that he too would die. I gave him to Him as a gift in advance, and I repeated the same pleas which I made for my mother – that He should not let him touch Purgatory. But the Lord showed Himself more reluctant, and would not listen to me. I feared greatly, not for his salvation, because good Jesus had made me a solemn promise almost fifteen years before that, of my family and of those who belong to me, no one would be lost; but I feared very much about Purgatory. I kept praying, but good Jesus would hardly come. Only on the day my father died, that is, after about fifteen days of illness, did blessed Jesus make Himself seen, all benign, clothed in white, as if He were in feast, and He told me: "Today I am waiting for your father, and for love of you I will let Myself be found, not as a judge, but as a benign father. I will welcome him in my arms." I insisted about Purgatory, but He did not listen to me, and He disappeared. After my father died, I did not have any new suffering as had happened with my mother, and from this I understood that he had gone to Purgatory. I prayed and prayed again, but Jesus would make Himself seen flashing by, without giving me time; and what’s more, I could not even cry because I had no one with whom to cry, and the One who, alone, could listen to my crying, would run away from me. Adorable judgments of God, in His ways.

Then, after two days of interior pains, while I was seeing blessed Jesus and asking Him about my father, I felt he was behind the shoulders of Jesus Christ, as though bursting into tears and asking for help; and then they disappeared. I was left lacerated in my soul, and I kept praying. Finally, after six days, as I was in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, inside a church, and there were many purging souls. I was praying to Our Lord that He would at least let my father come inside a church to make his purgatory, because I could see that the souls in the churches receive continuous reliefs from the prayers and Masses that are said, and much more, from the real presence of Jesus in the Sacrament; it seems that that is a continuous refreshment for them. At that moment, I saw my father, venerable in his appearance, and Our Lord let me place him near the Tabernacle. So it seems I was left less lacerated in my interior.

I remember confusedly that, on another day, when blessed Jesus came, He made me comprehend the preciousness of suffering, and I prayed that He would let everyone comprehend the good contained in suffering. And He said to me: "My daughter, the cross is a thorny fruit, which is bothering and prickly on the outside, but once the thorns and the cortex are removed, one finds a precious and delicious fruit. But only one who has the patience to bear the bothers of the prickings, can arrive at discovering the secret of the preciousness and flavor of that fruit. And only one who has come to discover this secret, looks at it with love, and goes in search of this fruit with avidity, without caring about the prickings, while all the others look at it with contempt, and despise it." And I: ‘But, my sweet Lord, what is this secret contained in the fruit of the cross?’ And He: "It is the secret of eternal beatitude, because in the fruit of the cross there are many little coins which circulate only to enter into Heaven, and with these little coins the soul is enriched and makes herself blessed for eternity."

The rest I remember confusedly, and I feel it is not orderly in my mind, therefore I move on, and I stop here.