Transcription
I'll even say this. Even in the midst of suffering, someone who does not live in union with God with all this light is not unhappy. They may suffer, but they are not unhappy.
As I said about the blessed virgin, do you think the blessed virgin was unhappy at the foot of the cross? Did she feel miserable and desperate? No. She knew what she wanted was to understand what was happening. And in a certain sense, she was happy to be cooperating with Jesus in the salvation of all of us.
So what is it? And here we come to this point. What is the difference between the sufferings of Jesus and the blessed virgin and our own? To be honest, they they have a distinctly unique manner of suffering than we do and a completely different way of perceiving the world around them. And in Louisa, there are several chapters about this. Let's read one because I believe suffering is an everyday thing just like eating.
As I was saying, there is no person in this world who doesn't have some kind of suffering. Why? And let's see why. Let's connect this with what I was saying earlier in another talk. Because God already has his plan. So when man strays from his plan, for example, when someone becomes too attached to riches and the perishable things of this world, then God acts in a certain way, maybe with some light, with an invitation to a retreat or who knows what else to help that person understand that they are seeking happiness in the wrong way, that their goal is mistaken, that is not their true purpose. Their purpose is to one day reach God, to live in him, and be happy in him.
So since God sees that we don't understand through gentle means so to speak, he says, "Well, let's try a stronger shake." And he allows or sends us some little crosses of disappointment so that we realize that we are not finding happiness where we thought we would. And even if we get what we wanted, if it is something outside of God, our heart is left disillusioned, bitter, empty, and not happy.
Someone seeks happiness in riches and ends up disillusioned by them. Sometimes God allows it. A little cross of poverty so that we see that is not the way. Someone may also experience or a little cross of being out of work for a while. It is God's mercy to bring us back to his path and his plan. A little cross of slander from someone against us. Ah so that we become disillusioned with creatures and do not love them for their own sake but as instruments of God for our good.
That is why God allows us to be disillusioned by a creature perhaps by someone very dear to us who does something to us who leaves us makes us feel bad makes us feel pain in order to disillusion our hearts from the things and people of this world and to turn us back to our purpose and lift our eyes to God. So if the Almighty permits trials and crosses to enter into our lives, it is a profound expression of his mercy and it is intended for our ultimate spiritual well-being so that we may eventually return to the right path where we will find true happiness according to the plan he has set for us.
This is why we should not hold a grudge against our neighbor when they do something to us. Because if we look at things from this point of view, it is God who allows our neighbor to do something to us. I don't know, a slander, a betrayal, instances of theft and other similar crimes, etc. But we tend to focus more on people and not on God's plan. We put our attention on people and then why did that person do it? I get upset because that person slandered me. So we hold a grudge or resentment and sometimes people even end up holding a lifelong hatred.
No, no, no, no. That person was an instrument of God for your good. God wanted to disillusion you about people and use that person not because he supports sin or slander or theft or the evil that is there. No, God allowed it and use that person so that you would detach yourself from that person and from people in general to disillusion you about temporary things. So rather we should be grateful to those people and pray for them if they did something wrong but not hold a grudge against them. see in them the instrument of God for our spiritual good.
This is how Jesus taught Louisa. Let's say come on. If someone hurt you, erase their face. Or rather, don't see that face. See that behind that person is God and that God has a plan and that's why he allowed that cross for you. So, it's better to say, "Thy will be done, Lord. Help me understand what your will is in this. I won't rebel and I want to do it according to you. I won't hold a grudge against that person because yes, it hurts in the moment and all, but I don't want to focus so much on that person, but rather on the plan you have for me and to use that cross for our spiritual good while also praying for that person.
And likewise, there will be people who do good to us as well. Because we shouldn't only focus on those who make us suffer. How many people in our lives have done us good from whom we've received some benefit? Our fathers, our mothers, even if they have their flaws, but God used them to bring us into this life so that we could fulfill this plan etc. Each of us can look at our own life and see how many people have been instruments of God to bring us some good, some light, some knowledge, even some material benefit, favors, so many things.
But let's try to see it more from a spiritual perspective. Even the people who have helped us with some favor perhaps, well, it is God who through those people is also loving us and is giving us that to see if through a favor we might also lift our eyes to heaven. So in the case that someone does us a kindness, we shouldn't cling to people either because that's not how it is. We should thank them. Yes, but above all see the hand of God through those people. God is the author of that good as well.
So seeing things this way, we won't become attached to people. We won't tie our hearts to people. And we also won't hold grudges or hatred or things like that because in everyone we will see something that God wants to give us whether it's something pleasant or unpleasant. But everything is good. If God allows it, it's for something good in our soul. This also means learning how to recognize and understanding our neighbor through the eyes of God. But we are very prone to seeing our neighbor outside of God only with our human eyes. So we love the people who do good to us and who we get along with. And we distance ourselves from people who in some way have caused us some pain. and we separate them from our hearts and don't even want to think about them. No, that's not how it should be. We have to see it in a more spiritual way.
So, in this chapter, the blessed virgin Mary is going to teach Louisa exactly how her divine son Jesus Christ and his most holy mother suffered together. So that when we are faced with our own suffering in this life, we can approach it with the same grace as they did and truly learn to suffer in their most holy and divine way.
Early this morning, finding myself deeply oppressed and suffering greatly after waiting a very long time for my sweet Jesus to appear. When I finally saw him, he said to me, "My dear daughter, the true way to suffer is not to look at or see from whom the sufferings come, but to accept them with a peaceful heart, nor what things are suffered. Not to see either from whom the sufferings come, nor what things are suffered." This is from volume 4, March 19th, 1901.
Notice that's exactly what we always do. We see from whom the suffering comes and we see what things we suffer and our attention is focused only on that. So and so did such and such to me and there we are and we stay stuck there and we can't put our inner attention on anything else. We don't even turn our eyes to say, "My God, what is your plan?" No, we just stay there stuck. And that's not how Jesus suffered. In a moment, I'll explain how he suffered.
The most profound and authentic way for a person to experience suffering is not merely to observe the individuals from whom the sufferings come or the nature of the things that are being endured, but rather to focus intently on the ultimate nature of the good that should come from suffering. This was my way of suffering. I did not see either the executioners or the suffering itself. That's the secret.
Jesus didn't say, "Ah, this Roman soldier is making me suffer. This Pharisee slandered me and this apostle betrayed me." No, he didn't see that. He didn't dwell on that. He saw the good that would come from it. So, he would see ah such and such apostle who was very dear to me betrayed me. Yes, but that's not it. That's not what matters to me. What matters to me are to suffer all the betrayals that everyone will suffer through this betrayal. To give them the strength to live in a divine way to be able to find salvation there. So by suffering this betrayal, I am going to do an immense good. I want to suffer it willingly. And no, no, there was no reason to hold a grudge against Judas because his attention was not on that, but on the good he would obtain by suffering this.
Likewise, with the crowning of thorns, he didn't stop to think, "Let's see how many thorns they're going to stick in me and these abusers who are going to drive them in. I don't ever want to see them again for the rest of my life." No, his attention wasn't on that. What he saw in this crowning with thorns was a way to make amends for so many bad thoughts and to offer the father a good divine thought of glory for every bad thought. That was where his attention and his inner activity were focused. If it had been so and so or such and such who pressed the crown onto him, he didn't care about that. Let's say his attention was on not wasting his suffering and his crowning with thorns, but rather on putting it into action for the good of all of us and all our thoughts to obtain light for us in all our thoughts so that we could understand heavenly things.
Do you think Jesus was just watching it all from the outside? Would he have wasted his suffering and his passion? If he redeemed us, it is because he did not focus his attention there, but rather on his inner activity and on the goods he was going to acquire and acquire for us. The true way to suffer is to see the good that should come from suffering and not to look at who the suffering comes from or what is being suffered. This was my way of suffering. I did not witness either the executioners or the suffering, but I focused on the good I truly wanted to do. through my suffering but rather to see the good I wanted to do through my suffering even for those who were making me suffer.
So with that crowning of thorns Jesus also intended to say let's see if light reaches them. I want to suffer this voluntarily so that at some point if not now then later light may reach their minds and maybe they were converted later on because Jesus also offered those sufferings for them and for the good of his very executioners. So much so that when Jesus died many of them saw the light, didn't they? They beat their chest realizing truly this was the son of God. Why? Because Jesus offered those very sufferings which they themselves were inflicting on him for their sake. And in this way he obtained for them the graces to understand the graces of conversion and repentance.
So that is the secret of suffering like Jesus. I think we should even memorize this because when the moment comes we tend to forget and that's exactly when we need to put it into practice. So what Jesus says here, what I saw was I didn't see either the executioners or what I was suffering, but rather the good I wanted to accomplish through my suffering. Even for those who were making me suffer and by contemplating the good that should come to people, I disregarded everything else.
Notice I didn't care whether it was this person or that. I didn't care whether there were many thorns or few or what size they were. I disregarded everything else. And with my disregard, I continued on the path of my suffering. That was the decree of his strength to see the good that his sufferings would bring about. In this way, seeing those benefits, so to speak, he even wanted to suffer more in order to produce more good for us. That's why he suffered to such an extent because he loved us and wanted to give us so many blessings and that was where his focus was.
My dearest daughter, please understand that this is truly the easiest and most spiritually beneficial way for you to endure suffering. Not only by having patience, but but by embracing it with an invincible and courageous spirit. Now, what does he do with Louisa? Well, in the different volumes, he reveals more and more to us each time. More blessings that one obtains through suffering because here it is explained, let's say, in general terms. But in reality, what blessings can I obtain through my suffering? Well, with Louisa now comes one lesson then another. And as one learns more, one increasingly focuses their attention on those blessings. And the human aspect of suffering, the physical part or what we see with our material eyes gradually disappears more and more. And we begin to see suffering more with spiritual eyes. Its spiritual aspect, the blessings it produces within us.
As I tell you, to return us to a certain path, to detach us from earthly things as initial effects, but there are thousands more within ourselves. What else does suffering produce in others? How many people my sufferings can help bringing them light, converting them, leading them to a very high level of holiness. Our sufferings can produce good for others and for ourselves and also for God and then for our eternal happiness.
Because as I said earlier, if for every act, even every breath, God has determined a special happiness, if we unite ourselves to him in those acts, then also in suffering. A suffering, no matter how simple or how great it may be, if we live it in union with Jesus, in his will, we connect ourselves to the very suffering of Jesus. And then we receive everything. All the good that his suffering produced universal goods, infinite goods for everyone, not just for a very few people. And among those goods is that special happiness that God had determined for that act. So it may be that here we cannot feel that happiness produced by that suffering. But in heaven we will because in heaven suffering will be taken away and the happiness contained in that suffering will remain and we will be happy forever and we will thank God for having given us the opportunity to suffer that thing because now that is what is producing the happiness and the special glory.
So if we concentrate more deeply on the positive and transformative elements that suffering contains, at the very least we will cease our constant complaining about the various hardships we currently endure. Instead, our attention will now turn to making the most of them. What good things can be produced or can I produce with this suffering permitted by God or willed by God for me? And that is easy to find as I said in those teachings and above all in Jesus for example in the hours of the passion there comes for instance the reparation for each kind of sin. So many times God allows certain sufferings to repair some specific sins and to obtain graces for those people who are committing this type of sin. Well all of this is as I said an endless sea that we must get to know. But by learning about this and uniting ourselves to it, we gain the strength to keep moving forward. And as it says here, the strength to suffer not only with patience but with an invincible and courageous spirit as Jesus suffered making our own all the goods contained in the life of Jesus because we have already united ourselves to Jesus and want to live with his same will and his same life.
So we have to go through or take on all the acts of Jesus with our own acts. When we pray in the divine will, we take the prayers of Jesus into our own prayers and give them his form, his value. When we breathe in the divine will, we take the breaths of Jesus. But also, let's see, suffering. When we suffer in the divine will and in union with Jesus, we begin to take from his sufferings and from his goods. And if we truly want to live this life in this way, our worries are over because the one who is going to work is Jesus, he is the one who will bring about the circumstances around us so that we can also partake in the sufferings of Jesus.
So now he brings about a state of mind where one feels misunderstood, one feels alone, one feels sad, one feels betrayed. These are the different states of mind that God brings about to unite us to those which Jesus also experienced and which contain infinite goods. Those states of mind, those feelings. So instead of asking ourselves, oh why do I feel this way? We begin to unite oursel. How terrible. So we're just looking at the outside that I'm suffering and the suffering uh I'm feeling this way and that's where we stay. No, let's look higher. Let's open the eyes of our soul and see what goods does God want to give me with this state of mind. Well, to begin to receive these goods, I have to unite myself to Jesus, to his will. So, we unite ourselves to his will. What did Jesus go through this? Yes, he did. So, then just thinking about that, that's meditation. When did he go through this? What blessings did he obtain for us? Well, I also want to unite myself to that.
There is a chapter, well there are several chapters but one comes to mind from Louisa that says my daughter when the soul surrenders herself to me and lives in my will it is no longer she who is suffering it is I. So she can say Jesus is oppressed if she feels oppressed. Jesus is sad if she feels sad. Jesus is alone if she feels alone. It is Jesus who wants to share these states of mind with us so that we may accompany him and receive all the goods contained in that state of mind and produce all the effects that they also contain for others, for ourselves and for God. In a word, all our sufferings from now on are treasures that God is giving us for eternity and for everyone else. How is it possible that we keep complaining? Actually, no. We should all be truly thanking God for everything because living in the divine will as I tell you is living out the life of Jesus within us repeating it.
But what can we do? Well, we can set the intention and give all our will. Who is the one who is going to work? It is Jesus. Jesus is the one who brings about all those circumstances. It is also true that it is our Lord who does this work. And many times we can't explain why we feel a certain way. Sometimes someone snubs us and we hardly feel anything and other times they belittle us and we feel bad. Uh so it's not so much about whether the person does something to us or not. Let's take our eyes off that. It's that Jesus wants to share that with us at that moment. We still need it, that nuance, that happiness. And God wants to give it to us because at the end of our lives he wants our life to be complete and perfect like his. So he can share with us everything he contains. That's why now it's one thing now another. So each person can do it later on. Go back and read this chapter to reflect on it in their own unique and personal circumstances. And each person applies it to themselves. I'm going through a certain suffering. So let me apply this chapter to see how I should view my specific sufferings at this moment in this circumstance.
So as I mentioned before, there will always be suffering in this world. It would be foolish to think otherwise. It would go against reason and experience to pretend not to have suffering. I don't know why there's this mistaken idea that those who give themselves to God will have more suffering or conversely to think that those who give themselves to God shouldn't have any more suffering. No, that's a mistaken human perspective coming from our self-love, from our selfishness that we need to overcome.
How do we overcome ourselves? By seeing the good that suffering produces and then we begin to understand, ah, that's why God allowed such a thing in my life. If I still wasn't united to God's plan and you reflect on your past life and your past sufferings, you can see how it was all part of a plan to straighten you out, to detach you from one thing or another, to disillusion you. In short, to bring you to unite yourself with him, with his plan. And once we are united, it is Jesus' work to enrich us more and more with his actions, his merits, and his happiness for eternity. Then in this way, whatever happens in our lives will no longer affect us. We will always see God's will as being for something good for ourselves and for others.
So then what impression could it make if uh such an illness or another or an accident or some contempt or some problem happens? No, take your eyes off of that and look higher at the whole environment of suffering. In the same way, let's talk a little bit here about illnesses. People are more affected by some illnesses than by others. Well, for example, I don't want to die of cancer. What a horror. But really, it's the same whether it's one thing or another. And God has determined exactly the one you need in order to acquire certain riches in your soul. So why should you be shocked when they tell you, "Hey, look, you have such and such and it's your terminal illness." Well, blessed be God. God knows because it's what's best for me.
As if to say, "What a terrible thing. How sad. What a misfortune." We need to start seeing things in a more spiritual way. Blessed be God. This is what I needed to complete the life of Jesus within me. And I want to live it from this moment on, this final illness in union with Jesus in his will, so as not to waste a single second of my illness, which is what will take me to heaven. So why does it really matter so much if it's one type of illness or another? Honestly, that won't shock us anymore. I'm telling you this because lately with what happened to my dad, so many people say, "Oh, how sad. Cancer, how terrible. Well, and if he had had a stroke, people wouldn't be as shocked." But really, it's the same thing. In the end, it is a suffering to reach the point of death and go to heaven. And God wisely and lovingly determined that suffering because that was what he needed. That was what would allow him to add the final touches to complete his divine life in him and take him to heaven. And according to each of God's plans for us, according to our characteristics, he has already determined how we are going to die. So why worry about it beforehand? We've already seen that the entire plan for our life has been set since eternity.
I mean, a lot of people think that if they stop smoking or exercise more, they won't get a certain disease. Yes, the virus has already determined it. And if that's what's best for us, then make the most of your life and stop overthinking so much. Instead of obsessing over our health, let's focus on making the most of the circumstances we're living through. Either we live well and when the day comes that God gives us our final illness or whatever he has planned for us, we live it well. That's what's best for us. That way we can reach the moment of death completely surrendered to God at peace having made the most of our entire life and we will die in the divine will with all the glory and dignity of God and tranquility and the family members will also be enlightened by this. They will feel at peace seeing things from a supernatural perspective. You can see that God is already present in this person who is almost at the point of death giving the final touches to complete his masterpiece.
So even though there is sadness, we shouldn't focus solely on the mortal illness, on death or on what we see on the outside. The family members should also look upward. From God's point of view, how many blessings are already contained in those final acts? If every act of our life done in the divine will contains many blessings then at the end listen with so much knowledge with so much these are the most magnificent acts even if on the outside they might seem sad even if they appear sad to us but inside they are the most glorious acts even the last one which is the act that encompasses all the others and when done in the divine will as we said it leads straight to heaven what sadness it's a celebration in heaven a celebration for God who has finally completed a masterpiece. Someone who allowed themselves to be guided by the divine will. Sadness, yes, for those who die young in sin, there yes, there is sadness. But for those who do not clothe themselves in the divine will, death is something else. Suffering is something else. And death is even more so.
Well then just look at how different the perspective on suffering and death is with the light that God is giving us through the writings of Louisa. Let us stop seeing things so much from a human perspective and start acquiring the divine point of view on suffering and death. And for this we have abundant material in Louisa which when well meditated upon gives us much light and many other effects. Peace even joy within suffering. There is this inner joy of saying well a work of God is being completed and everything is for the good. This greatly reduces human feelings in the face of illness or death. I'm not saying it eliminates them completely. Otherwise, where would the point be? If one, if that spiritual perspective were to completely suppress pain, suffering, how do we connect to the suffering of Jesus? There has to be at least a little bit of suffering, right? In order to receive the goods produced by the sufferings of Jesus.
But what a difference it is to suffer in this way compared to suffering in a merely human way without all this spiritual vision with the eyes of the soul blind. One of the great miracles that the divine will works is to open the eyes of our soul since we are so blind and to give us that light so we can begin to see the whole spiritual environment. That marvelous plan of God always so full of love. And so that is the great miracle. Not so much giving bodily health or physical sight or all these things here which we sometimes think are the real miracles. Right? With Louisa, there are hardly any miracles. Almost no one has been physically healed. But in the soul, all of us are being healed and we don't even realize it. He is healing the sight of our soul which is so blind. He is making us see this entire spiritual plan and that is greater because this sight of the soul can never be taken away from us unless we ourselves want it. Of course, on the other hand, the physical sight that God might give someone, we are going to lose it again anyway on the day of our death, that is not a miracle. But for him to give us the sight of the soul, that truly is the great miracle because it will serve us for all eternity and for our own good and the good of everyone else since we will live our sufferings in the divine will like Jesus for the good of all. Just imagine here there truly are miracles that God had not been able to perform in so many centuries. And these are the great graces and miracles that the virgin promises in the book of the queen of heaven for all her beloved children who live in her same kingdom and in her same inheritance. The spiritual miracles which are like as I said much greater.
Well, let's take ourselves another short break right now and then we'll move forward and continue our discussion on a specific topic that is already starting to come up for us. the important topic of the death of the soul in the divine will. So we can see just how truly great and profound that really is. Heat. Heat.