Supplement pages to Bulletin # 65 (March 2012) of the Maria Valtorta Readers’ Group - Page 4
FOR SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT AND SURVIVAL
A Personal selection of significant extracts from Maria
Valtorta’s “Other Writings” (See Bulletin # 57)
INSTALMENT # 7
(Previous instalments can be emailed, on request)
CHAPTER 6. LESSONS FOR US ALL (Cont’d.)
Mary – the Weapon and the Bridge
(Maria Valtorta describes a vision of two archangels, with Our Lady…)
…After I had become gratified with the joy of seeing Mary, there appeared the archangel Michael - always very imposing, I would say frighteningly handsome - with his blazing sword in his right hand… The archangel pointed to Our Lady, thoroughly lovely in Her virginal humility - Her gracefulness as an Eternal Girl indescribable. He cried out, "Set the weapon that is Mary against Great Serpent that is advancing!" What a powerful voice! It shook the atmosphere like the sound of a harmonious thunderclap. Our Lady lowered Her head, looking at the earth with boundless compassion… And the archangel cried out three times. The defending archangel was very severe and imperious… After the third cry and a pause following it, he prostrated himself before Mary, venerating Her by saying, "You alone a defence! You alone are victorious! You alone are the hope of salvation against Satanic venom. Mother of the One Who is without equal, I greet You, my Queen."
He was still prostrate when the archangel Gabriel came racing down in flight from the Heavens to the earth… His figure gave off light, the joyful light of Paradise. Singing - for the voice of Gabriel is a very soft, indescribable sound - he flew around Mary, incensing Her with his thurible, saying, "Hail Mary! Queen of the Angels, salvation of men, love of the Triune God! After God, Who is like You, Mary! Hail, most glorious Queen in Heaven, medicine for all the illnesses killing spirits and extinguishing Faith, Hope and Charity in men. Hail, Mary!"
(Notebooks 1945-50, pp. 426-7)
(The Holy Spirit says:)
"...In Chapter 9 of Genesis, it is said, '...I will set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between Me and the Earth. And when I will have accumulated clouds (the punishments) in the sky, my rainbow shall appear in the clouds and I will remember My covenant... of the everlasting covenant established between God and with every flesh that is upon the Earth.'[1]
"Rainbow: sign of peace; bridge between Heaven and Earth.
"Mary is the peaceful bridge joining Heaven and Earth, the most Beloved One who obtains mercy for sinners with Her sole presence. And God, in the centuries before Christ - when the prevarications of men, obstinate and proud, accumulated the clouds of the divine chastisements upon Humanity - contemplated in His Thought She Who, ab eterno, was established the Ark of the divine Word, Fount of Grace, Seat of Wisdom, and the peaceful joy of Her Lord. [He] dispersed the clouds of the inexorable chastisement, granting time to Humanity in expectation of Salvation.
"The voice of the still unborn Virgin: ’Peace! Mercy! my Lord!’ Her perfect love, Her perfect obedience, already noticed by God before the purest Star, was the sweet sacrificial odour that appeased the wrath of the Lord. In the centuries after Christ, Mary is peace and mercy for Humanity. And with the growing of sins and the increasing of storm clouds of divine wrath and satanic fumes, Mary is always the One Who scatters the clouds, Who disarms the lightening, and Who builds Her mystical bridge for Humanity who has fallen into the abyss, so that it can rise up sweetly towards its Good.
" 'I will set My rainbow amongst the clouds... and I will remember My covenant.'
"Oh! truly the Rainbow of peace, the Co-Redemptrix is amongst the clouds, above the clouds. [She is] the sweet star that shines in the presence of God, in order to remind Him that He has promised mercy to men, and that He has given His Son so that men may have forgiveness. She is such, not as a sweet thought but as a true reality, complete, with Her soul without blemish and Her flesh without corruption. Nor is She content at being adored or blessed, but shows Herself to be active, and calls, She again calls Humanity to Salvation.
"The hour of Mary. This hour..."
(...Paul to the Romans, pp. 102-4)
(Jesus says:)
"Tears, tears, Maria! What a thing tears are! They had only one degree less in value than My Blood did. You are redeemed through the Blood of Jesus and the tears of Mary.
"My peace be with you always."
(Notebooks 1944, p. 644)
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The Consoler, and the Word
(The Holy Spirit says:)
"I am the Consoler. I console those who are demoralized by consternation and tortured by the present. I am the One who nurses and sweetens the bitterness of the Word that speaks the truth…
"I come to say to you, 'Go on trusting.' Even if everything seems lost, trust. Even if the abyss of Evil launches its demons forth to torture the Earth and… to beget the Antichrist; and even if the abyss of the Heavens seems to close by the decree of the Father, from whom We proceed; We, the Word and the Spirit, are still working and loving to save and defend you. I as Charity and the Word as Charity, I as Sanctification and the Word as Redemption. We do not cease. The Latter, to pour forth the merits of His Blood. And the Former, the charisms of His Power for your good.
"Trust. Love has always won out."
(Notebooks 1944, pp. 264-5)
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Be Pure, Holy, and One with God
(Jesus speaks of purification and cauterisation…)
"Fire responds to fire. In Paradise it is the fire of perfect love. In Purgatory[2] it is the fire of purifying love. In Hell it is the fire of offended love. Since the elect loved to perfection, Love gives Itself to them in Its Perfection. Since those being purged loved in lukewarm fashion, Love becomes a flame to take them to Perfection. Since the accursed burned with all fires except with the Fire of God the Fire of God's wrath burns them eternally…
"Meditate, O children, on these words of Mine. The sick are given bitter medicine; the cancer patients’ diseased areas are cauterized and cut out. For you, sick and suffering from cancer, this is a surgeon's medicine and cauterization. Do not refuse it. Use it to heal yourselves. The duration of life is not these few days on earth. Life begins when it seems to you to be ending, and it no longer has an end.
"Have it flow on for you, in the place where God's light and joy make eternity beautiful, and not where Satan is the eternal Torturer."
(Notebooks 1944, pp. 79-80)
(Jesus asks: "Why holiness?... In truth I tell you"...)
"In my Heaven there are sanctity and saints with the most varied characteristics, but there is no one who has obtained sanctity out of the desire to be known and celebrated among men for this reason. One is there because of martyrdom; another, because he was a hermit; another, because he was a tireless worker of hearts through preaching; and another, because he consumed himself in silence and prayer; this one, because he loved My Childhood; and that one, because he loved My torture[3]. And also [there are] those who were knights of the Most Pure Woman, and those who were heralds of the great King. But there is no one, no one, who is holy because he thought of being such, so as to bear a halo in the eyes of the world.
"You do not see the saints on the day when their sanctity is proclaimed on earth... With the accuracy in observation which children possess, they think, 'But there's no comparison to what I already have.' And they remain indifferent to the gift, continuing to observe and caress what they already had.
"The saints have God... Does the halo increase their joy? They already have a complete, perfect one. They have God...
"Humble because they are saints, they think, 'What did I do that was special? I obeyed the command of God my Father so He would be happy.' And they are already so happy that earthly festivities leave them indifferent. I said 'festivities', not the prayers of the faithful. These prayers are requests which faroff friends send to those who, because they are at God's side, can speak to Him more directly about their needs. This is charity. And charity, practiced to perfection by them in life, has become even more perfect since it was fused to Charity Itself.
"Desire sanctity with purity, then. And desire the gifts which help you to possess it, but with purity of heart. That is, with the sole desire of reuniting yourselves to God as soon as possible, so as to love Him even more, and to be of benefit to your brothers and sisters with your merits, through the communion of the saints..."
(Notebooks 1944, pp. 477-8)
(Azariah offers "the Christ" as a model, and says:)
"This is the Christ who says to you, 'Be as I am. Be perfect', and proposes Himself to you as a model. For He knows that you can imitate Him if you immolate yourselves completely to charity, as He immolated Himself to Charity. For this is the secret of perfection and of imitation of Jesus Christ Our Lord: to be able to immolate oneself to love, with Christ and like Christ, and for the same purposes as Christ did, according to his Word of doctrine, which is wisdom and grace. And He has given and gives you [this doctrine] so that, together with the Sacraments, it will be the Way, the Truth, Life, and Light for you, as He is..."
[Book of Azariah, pp. 318-9 (1993), 332 (2007)]
(Azariah speaks of being "one with God"...)
"...The words of the liturgy state, 'It is God who makes those of the same character dwell in His house'[4]... A concept contained in the statement by Jesus Our Lord: 'Remain in Me and I in you.... If anyone remains in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit'[5]. And in that of the divine prayer: 'May they all be one, as You are in Me, 0 Father, and I in You'[6]. Words which, gathered by the Apostle of Love... the one who had understood Charity: 'Whoever loves is born of God and knows Him.... God is Love.... If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His charity in us is perfect. By this we know that we are in Him and that He is in us from the fact that He has given us His Spirit...'[7]"
[Book of Azariah, pp. 207-8 (1993), 216-7 (2007)]
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Help with Not Judging
(The Holy Spirit says:)
"...No one knows how God guides individual souls. No one is so powerful as to be able to always judge with justice. There are creatures who, through their pride, appear as rebels or guilty to the short-sighted. And yet they are not, while others truly are, but through their shrewdness they have the appearance of being just ones by operating properly on the outside, [but they operate] poorly on the inside. They have the appearance of being just ones, yet they are doubly unjust, for they feign and act perniciously.
"'Judge not '[8] said the Word of truth. And it would be the perfect rule. However, if you judge - for however humble or powerful you may be - judge at least with love, always, not being able - because of your limitations as men - to penetrate inside of men and discern the 'reasons' of their every action. You must know that nothing is a secret to the All-Seeing - even if in secret you carry out your unjust actions and pronounce your insincere, unjust and uncharitable judgements upon your neighbour. God sees you and hears you whilst you act and speak, and He judges you, He, yes, with a just and final judgement.
"It will not be for having been powerful that you will be spared the judgement of God. Rather, since more has been given to you, the more rigorous the judgement will be[9] when - as with every man - you will have to present yourselves before God in order to account for your actions. And for each one who has been placed more highly than the mass of the flock of Christ - either out of being in office, or through extraordinary election - remember that sometimes only one sin against Love - that is, against the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love - can destroy all the merits of a life lived in the Law. God can strike you immediately, after you have struck Him in a servant of His, or in a work of love of His. He can strike you, as He struck Adam[10], immediately after one of your sins of pride. And then? To what avail will your previous works have been? And what of your being in office? And what of your extraordinary election?...
"Even though Jesus was the Mercy Incarnate, He clearly told of the fate that awaits the one who scandalizes souls with unjust actions..."
(...Paul to the Romans, pp. 305-7)
(Azariah asks:)
"Do you have to live with someone you don't like? First of all, don't judge[11]. You are unable to judge. Man only very rarely judges with justice. But even when judging with justice, on the basis of positive elements examined without preconceptions and human acrimony, do not be at fault in charity. For in addition to your neighbor, you would be committing a fault towards his guardian angel. If you were able to think this way, how much easier it would be for you to overcome dislike and resentment...
"Soul of mine, meditate on the way the Lord honors you, and the way we angels honor you and give you a chance to help us - Him, the Divine One, and us, his spiritual ministers with appropriate words to get your fellows back on the right track. And above all, [follow] the example of conduct which is unvarying in Goodness. Unvarying in the sense of not bending to indulgence and compromise so as not to lose human friendship, [but] eager only not to lose that of God and His angels... Help your neighbor's angel, and you will find him, too, in Heaven."