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Sure Ways to Live in the Divine Will

 

 

In the Gospel, we read the words of Our Lord: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

 

As we now stand at the threshold of the Time of Justice, God has revealed the fullness of that pearl to us- it is none other than The Gift of Living in the Divine Will.

 

Indeed, Jesus here tells us that the Pearl of Great Price is the Kingdom of Heaven. But now, with the Gift of Living in the Divine Will, He offers us the true life of Heaven even while on Earth.

 

So we don’t have to be confused any more by questions like “What is my calling? What is the best way to respond to the Signs of the Times? What is God really trying to say to the Church and the world today?” We don’t have to search for any more pearls. This is it.

 

Now, we could not possibly risk spending too much to purchase it. No sacrifice is too great for the greatest Gift. So like this wise merchant, we too must sell everything in order to obtain it. For without such a mindset we cannot even properly embark upon this journey. Therefore, we must cast aside worldly advice and instead put all of our eggs in this one basket. Because this one basket is God. And God never disappoints, nor is He ever outdone in generosity.

 

And thanks be to God, but much to the chagrin of the exploiters of God’s grace, this Pearl of Great Price is free, easy, and simple to obtain. Neither is it a secret: Jesus tells us clearly through the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta just how to proceed.

 

The best thing I or anyone can do is to merely present you with things Our Lord Himself has said to Luisa in her Diary, which she wrote under obedience to the Church; writings referred to as “the Book of Heaven.” I would like to offer to you a few points that have resonated with me from these remarkable writings.

 

Before we dive in to those, however, we must address 3 Questions regarding misconceptions about this journey in the Divine Will:

 

1)Do I have to change everything in my spiritual life to Live in the Divine Will? Get rid of all my old spiritual books so I can now read only Divine Will materials? Abandon all of my old devotional prayers so I can now recite only the prayers in Luisa’s writings? Ignore all of those saints I used to imitate so I can now focus only on the Saints in the Divine Will? No!

 

Our Lord addressed this to Luisa: “See, then, how easy it is to Live in Our Will? The creature doesn’t have to do New Things, but just what she always does; that is to say, to live her life as We gave it, but in Our Will.”

 

In fact, we work against receiving this Gift if we abandon our former practices, because Jesus also told Luisa “One who feels downhearted, dry and deprived of my presence, and remains yet firm and faithful to her usual practices comes to participate in the merits and goods which my Mother acquired when I was lost.”

 

So we keep being ordinary good Catholics; doing what all the other ordinary good Catholics do; but in the Divine Will, which makes our lives extraordinary in truth even if not in appearance.

 

2) Is it easy or hard to Live in the Divine Will?

 

If this is the pearl of great price, and we have to sell everything in order to purchase it, then wouldn’t that be quite difficult; nearly impossible?

 

No, it is not impossible, nor even difficult. Because compared to this pearl, everything else that is world seems like garbage. If it does not, that’s merely because we don’t know enough about the pearl, or haven’t bothered to really ponder it. And if selling even valuable items for a fair price is easy, how much easier is it to sell garbage?

 

It is very easy, of course. And so is Living in the Divine Will. If we truly want a Gift so great.

 

Now it’s still the way of the Cross. There is no other way to be a Christian; much less a child of the Kingdom of the Divine Will. But these crosses become sweetness in His Will.

 

Jesus says to Luisa, “Not too much is needed to Live of My Will; the too much is in the volition-if this decides and strongly and perseveringly wants it, already she has conquered Mine and has made It hers…” He also said, “My blessed daughter, tell Me, what do you want?  Do you want that My Will Reigns and Lives in you as Life?  If you truly want it, everything is done, I do not know how to teach difficult things, nor do I want impossible things.  Rather it is My usual Way to make easy, for as much as it is possible for the creature, the most arduous things and hardest sacrifice.”

 

Always, always remember that as you continue your journey Living in the Divine Will.

 

3) Do I need special hidden knowledge, secret formulas, and a guru teacher to Live in the Divine Will?

 

How easy it is to wrongly answer this question in the affirmative! It is tempting to look up to experts on the Divine Will as gurus, given the sheer daunting size of the Book of Heaven. Well, we can perish that thought.

 

It is certainly true that Jesus gives Luisa an enormous amount of teaching; some 8,000 pages or so. But this is for our benefit. It’s like a long love letter written by a spouse which, the more we read, the more we ourselves fall in love. It’s not like a textbook that we have to study, memorize, and master before a test so we don’t fail it.

 

Jesus says to Luisa: “If the soul removes the little stone of her will, at that very instant, she flows into Me, and I into her; there are no paths, no doors and no keys: it is enough for her to want it, and all is done. My Will takes charge of everything.”

 

Essentially, this means that no one alive today is your guide to the Divine Will; least of all myself. Luisa is your guide; or, more precisely, Jesus is your guide through His words to Luisa. And above all, God dwelling both within you and in His Real Presence in the Eucharist is your guide.

 

So all I can do is share with you some of those words from Our Lord, and a brief few words of my own commentary on them.

 

Namely, I want to talk about Desire for the Divine Will and its Universal Reign, Submission to the Divine Will in Everything, Love and Purity, Courage and Trust, Detachment and Emptiness, Devouring Knowledge of the Divine Will, Devotion to Our Lady, and Doing our Acts in the Divine Will; as all of these things are described by Our Lord in the Book of Heaven.

 

First of all, Desire.

 

We need to fuel our desire for the Gift of Living in the Divine Will and we need to Crave its Universal Reign on Earth to the point that our desire is like a raging fire.

 

But how? How do we go about actually making sure that we desire – that we crave – something? For one might think that what we desire is outside of our control. But that is not true. How we feel is not always under our control; and Jesus promises Luisa that He does not look at how we feel. But desire is deeper.

 

As Christians, we are often confronted with the task of exercising the Will in order to modify our desires.

This should be a process that anyone undertakes after conversion. When one becomes a Christian, he realizes that he needs to get rid of the desires that have become so ingrained in his soul; desires for bad music, bad movies, bad company, bad behaviors in general, and in turn replace them with desires for holy things; instead of defending to the death whatever inclinations and tastes he finds preexisting in his nature. One need only glance at the destruction of society currently running rampant — even condoned recently by our nation’s Supreme Court – by those who insist upon defending, instead of forming properly, their natural desires.

 

But how does the Christian go about this modification of desire? First of all, by remembering – in other words, choosing to remind himself of – the existence, the truth, and the beauty of these holy things that he should desire.

 

Correspondingly, this is what we need to do to foster a desire for the Divine Will. Jesus tells Luisa that every good in life has its beginning in the memory. So we choose to continually remind ourselves of and ponder the rightful object of our desire.

 

By doing this, all three powers of the soul operate together: The will chooses, the memory remembers, and the intellect thinks. Specifically, we must remind ourselves of, read, and meditate on, the following assurances from Our Lord, in order to truly enlarge our desire.

 

Therefore, let us talk briefly about what Jesus promises to those who Live in His Will, and what Jesus promises about the soon-to-come worldwide reign of His Will on Earth.

 

Everything you could possibly legitimately want is contained within the Gift of Living in the Divine Will. This is first of all true because all that ultimately matters is pleasing God; and this is what pleases Him the most. In fact, Jesus promises that Living in the Divine Will on Earth gives you precisely the same sanctity as that which the blessed in Heaven possess, and yet renders you even more pleasing to Him due to the fact that you can still suffer redemptively and you can still earn merit. Not one drop more of merit can actually be obtained after you die.

 

Now, it is impossible for one Living in the Divine Will to be lost, yes – Jesus assures Luisa of that many times. But it’s even impossible for one who dies while Living in the Divine Will to go to Purgatory. Jesus says that even the entire Universe would rebel if this were to happen, though it is impossible.

 

He says, “Therefore, the first thing that My Will does is to remove Purgatory beforehand, making it done in advance in order to be freer to make her Live in My Will, and to form Its Life as pleases It more.  So if the creature were to die after one decided and wanted act of Living in My Volition, she will take flight toward Heaven.”

 

And when one does arrive in Heaven, having lived in the Divine Will on Earth, she is granted the highest possible place; joining the royal cortege of Our Lady, the Queen of Heaven, who until now has been deprived of this royal cortege.

 

So in the Divine Will, we’re all set after this life regarding our safety, but what about during it? Well, Jesus cares about that as well. He talks constantly to Luisa about the Chastisements which are soon coming, but He also promises protection from them for the children of His Will, who are also the true Children of His Mother, and He has granted Her the right to defend all of them against chastisements.

 

Jesus showed Luisa that “the Sovereign Queen descended from Heaven with an indescribable Majesty and a Tenderness all Maternal, and She went around in the midst of creatures in all the nations and She marked Her dear children, and those who must not be touched by the scourges.  Each one my Celestial Mother touched, the scourges had no power to touch those creatures.  Sweet Jesus gave the right to His Mother of placing in safety whomever She pleased. O! if everyone could see with how much Love and Tenderness the Celestial Queen did this office, they would cry from consolation, and they would Love She who Loves them so much.”

 

But what about all of the other crosses in life aside from the looming Chastisements? Living in the Divine Will is still indeed the way of the Cross as we said, but even the form of those crosses changes completely for one who Lives in His Will. Jesus promises that no pain, no suffering or unhappiness of any kind can truly enter into the center of the soul of one who Lives in His Will.

 

Jesus tells Luisa: “My daughter, one who lives in My Will enters the Divine order.  And since Our Divinity is incapable of pain, nothing, even the slightest thing, can in the least shade Our perennial and infinite Happiness; and as much as creatures offend Us, the pain, the offenses, remain outside of Us-never inside.  “In the same way, for one who lives in My Will pain cannot enter her soul; pain remains outside of the soul-that is, in the human nature-And so she feels pain without pain, sorrow without sorrow, because pain and sorrows cannot enter the sacrarium of My Will-they are forced to remain outside.  The soul feels them, sees them, touches them, but they do not enter into her center.”

 

Now we could go on for many hours speaking of the glories of the Gift of the Divine Will for the soul; but sometimes it can be easier to foster our desire for the Divine Will when we meditate upon its Universal Reign on Earth; when His Will is done on earth as it is in Heaven– as promised and prophesied by God Incarnate in the most important prayer of History : the prayer He Himself taught us. Because one who lives in the Divine Will indeed enjoys all of its benefits, but he still finds himself stuck in this world which is usually dead set on doing the very opposite of the Divine Will mired in unprecedented levels of sin and darkness as it is. So let us see what Jesus tells us about this soon-to-come Reign of His Will on Earth.

 

What is the best thing about the coming Reign? The fact that its arrival is guaranteed.

 

Our Lord has decreed it; everything else is nothing. No one can stop it. No force on Heaven, Earth, or Hell can stop it. No matter how many people (wrongly) call it heresy, no matter how much the devil and his minions fight against it, no matter how much even misguided Catholics fight against it…. It is coming.

 

First, understand that it is not a heresy. It is not Millenarianism (it doesn’t speak of a visible reign of Jesus in the Flesh on Earth before His Final coming). It does not entail an end of the age of the Church; rather, it entails an era where the Church will acquire her full vigor and where Jesus reigns in the power of His Divine Will spiritually.

 

So why can we be so confident in its coming? For many reasons. One of them is that everything Jesus said to Luisa about what was supposed to come in the 20^th century already has happened. Let’s take a moment to look at just a snippet of that.

 

On April 17th, 1906 Luisa was shown great chastisements; specifically, earthquakes in three different cities. The next day, the great san Francisco earthquake happened. Four months later, the 1906 Valparaiso Earthquake occurred in Chile which killed even more people. Two years later, the great 1908 Messina Earthquake occurred – the worst and deadliest earthquake in European history – and she was also shown it the morning before it happened.

 

The next month she was shown a vision of thousands of people dying from earthquakes, fire, and water… but she said that somehow it seemed all of those were just precursors to nearing wars. The following year she saw “in the world, wars, revolutions… [which were] imminent” Three years later, World War I broke out. Four months after its official start, Luisa said, “Jesus keeps telling me that the wars and the scourges which are occurring now are still nothing… that other nations will go to war – and not only this, but that they will wage war against the Church…”

 

Then, right after World War I, she was clearly told that a worse war would come, involving even more nations and more death. Jesus said: “But I will use this for My highest purposes, and the reunion of so many races will serve to facilitate the communications of the truths, so that they may dispose themselves for the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat.  So, the chastisements that have occurred are nothing other than the preludes of those that will come. My Justice can bear no more; My Will wants to triumph, and would want to triumph by means of love in order to establish Its Kingdom.  But man does not want to come to meet this love, therefore it is necessary to use justice.” 

 

So the bottom line is that if Jesus promises Luisa that something is going to happen, it’s going to happen. Period. History has already proven that without a doubt.

 

With that confidence, then, we can read more of Jesus’ words to Luisa. In response to Luisa’s question “How will this Kingdom of the Divine Will ever be able to come?  Sin abounds and evils get worse. Jesus responds by saying: “My daughter, everything is possible for Us.  The impossibilities, the difficulties, the insurmountable obstacles of creatures melt before Our Supreme Majesty like snow in front of a burning Sun.  Everything is in whether We want it; all the rest is nothing.  … If We have put these writings forth it is because We know for certain that They will bring forth Their fruit and will establish the Kingdom of Our Volition in the midst of creatures. The time will come that they will compete for who will be able to know these Truths more.   Therefore, do not think about it; it is a question of time.  I, who know how things will go, I do not stop.”

 

So it is indeed coming; but how soon it comes and who partakes of its glory depend upon our response. So to inflame our desire for it, let us now look at some things Jesus told Luisa about it.

 

First of all, He calls it almost a return to the original state before the Fall. Now, Our Lord does not explain exactly what that “almost” refers to, but it certainly is important as we must always first and foremost submit to Church teaching, which tells us that the battle against sin does not definitively end until the Final Coming of Our Lord and the Universal Judgment and Resurrection. Nevertheless, we can rest assured that The Fiat Voluntas Tua on Earth as it is in Heaven will be just as glorious as Eden in its own way; in fact, more so, now that we have Christianity.

 

Jesus says to Luisa: “Man degraded himself and lost all goods because he went out of My Divine Will.  In order to ennoble himself, to reacquire everything and receive the rehabilitation of the marriage with his Creator, he must enter once again the Divine Fiat from which he came.  There are no ways in the middle… My Will was the beginning and, by justice, one who is the beginning must also be the end.  Therefore, humanity must be enclosed in My Divine Volition to be given back her noble origin, her happiness, and to place the marriage with her Creator in force once again…-this is why all the Divine yearnings, the sighs, the manifestations, are directed toward making Our Will known in order to make It reign….”

 

We have to remember that the way the world is now was not God’s original plan, nor is it the way the world always was. This is how the world became 6,000 years ago when Adam disobeyed God. (Remember that the world before the fall wasn’t Heaven; rather, it was still the world.) But God never lets any good deed go undone. Just as in His Passion He did not withhold even one drop of blood, so too it will be with the whole History of the world. A good so great as returning the temporal Earth to the glory of its original design is a good too great to be possible for God to leave undone. It would go against His very nature to simply annihilate the world in the depths of its misery and let eternity take its place before the misery has been resolved. That would be like the bridegroom welcoming a filthy and wretched bride to the wedding. Instead, the bride is bedecked with jewels and adorned first, as the Book of Revelation tells us. So it must be, and so it will be with the world before the Final Coming of the Lord.

 

But when will this be? Soon. As I said, just how soon depends on us; but it will be soon nevertheless. Jesus told Luisa that “Every two thousand years I have renewed the world. In the first two thousand years I renewed it with the Deluge; in the second two thousand I renewed it with my coming upon earth when I manifested my Humanity… Now we are around the third two thousand years, and there will be a third renewal. in this third renewal, after the earth will be purged and a great part of the current generation destroyed, I will be even more generous with creatures… This is also why I often speak to you about living in my Will, which I have not manifested to anyone until now.”

 

The 2,000^th anniversary of Redemption is coming up — the year 2033. Or, if we take the anniversary by the dates given to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich; it is even sooner (by several years).

 

There is simply no way around it: we are living in the most exciting and urgent time in the history of creation. Not only that, but we are the most privileged people in the history of creation, because by the mere fact that we know of this, Jesus is inviting us to be the very ones who help usher in this Era of Peace. Each and every one of us.

 

We of course do not know exactly what will come, or exactly when. To desire such knowledge would be to desire a gift even Our Lady herself did not have on Earth, as she walked by Faith, not by sight. But, in order to inflame our desire for the Divine Will and its Universal Reign, we should indeed readily devour any knowledge that God has chosen to give us about it. So what else has Jesus told us, through Luisa, about this reign? Plenty of things; but we’ll just look at a few items now.

 

First of all, the world is going to be absolutely full of people. Immediately after the Chastisements it will not be so; for they will wipe out a large portion of humanity. But that will change.

 

Jesus said to Luisa:   “You must know that Our adorable Majesty, in forming the Creation, established that every place was to be populated by inhabitants, and that the earth was to be extremely fertile and rich with abundant plants, in such a way that all would have in abundance…Look at the sky-how populated with stars it is; the earth was to be the echo of the sky, crammed with inhabitants, and it was to produce so much as to render everyone rich and happy….Oh How many great things will the Kingdom of My Divine Fiat do.  So much so, that all the elements are all in waiting-the sun, the wind, the sea, the earth and all Creation-to deliver from their womb all the goods and effects that they contain. “

 

In other words, the good things we now experience from the elements — the power of the sun to cause vegetation to grow; food to nourish; and so forth – is now at a mere fraction of what it should be. Come the Era of the Divine Will they will give forth what God intended. It will not be supernatural, as in Heaven – it will still be natural, but natural as originally designed by God in its fullness.

 

Even now we’re shown hints of what soon will be the ordinary:

 

Well trained animals are perfectly obedient to their owners; in this coming era all animals will be perfectly obedient to all men.

 

Even now, some species of Bamboo can grow three feet in a single day; in this era to come, the most delicious and nutritious fruits will grow like only the most troublesome weeds do in this present era.

 

Some places on this Earth are so naturally beautiful that when you visit them you cannot help but immediately think of God; and you almost wonder if you’re in Heaven. In the era to come, the entire face of the planet will be like that.

 

And all of that is of course nothing but symbol and effect of the transfiguration of society and of souls that will take place. Even now, some Monasteries on this Earth are run perfectly – with Jesus in the Eucharist as their true head and ruler — and are veritable saint-factories with all the monks and nuns living in them in perfect accord with each other and with God. In the Era to come, that will be the case with the entire world.

 

But this will still be an Earthly Pilgrimage away from the Celestial Fatherland. However, in this Era that is to come, when our Earthly Pilgrimage ends, it will not be like death how we now know it. Jesus tells Luisa that it could barely even be called death; it is more of a mere transition – where one act is done on this side of the grave, and with the next act you do, you find yourself in Heaven.

 

Jesus says to Luisa: “The Kingdom of My Fiat will enclose all goods, all miracles, the most sensational prodigies; even more, It will surpass them all together. “Death will no longer have power in the soul; and if it will have it over the body, it will not be death, but transit.  … the bodies also will not be subject to decomposing; but they will remain composed in their sepulchers, waiting for the day of the resurrection of all. ….My Will will have no need to make miracles, because It will preserve people always healthy, holy and beautiful-worthy of that beauty that came out of Our creative hands in creating the creature. The Kingdom of the Divine Fiat will make the great miracle of banishing all evils, all miseries, all fears,…..This, in the souls; but also in the body there will be many modifications, because it is always sin that is the nourishment of all evils. Once sin is removed, there will be no nourishment for evil; more so, since My Will and sin cannot exist together, therefore the human nature also will have its beneficial effects. “

 

We will still have Faith in this Era of Peace, whereas Faith will cease in Heaven. But Faith in the Kingdom of the Divine Will will be a clear thing, which not even an obstinate fool would be likely to deny. Jesus says that Faith now is difficult for some to have because it is like insisting upon the existence of the sun on an extremely cloudy day. But in the Reign of the Divine Will, Faith will be like recognizing the sun on a perfectly clear day.

 

Jesus says: “When My Will has Its Kingdom upon earth and souls live in It, Faith will no longer have any shadow, but everything will be clarity and certainty.  The light of My Volition will bring in the very created things the clear vision of their Creator…Now they are almost like blind people who must believe others that a God exists.  But when My Divine Fiat reigns, Its light will make them touch the existence of their Creator with their own hands; therefore, it will no longer be necessary for others to say it-the shadows, the clouds, will exist no more….

 

Jesus even tells Luisa that the music of the Celestial Fatherland and music of the heavenly bodies will truly echo through the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat such that one would no more question the beauty and the design of it than one would now question the reality of a symphony he is attending. This is indeed what many poets, astronomers, philosophers, and theologians have spoken of by way of the “music of the spheres,” which now we can only intellectually observe by studying the universe. In the era to come, we will hear that.  

 

Now, I hope all of this makes you crave the Kingdom of the Divine Will on Earth. That’s a good thing. But remember, Jesus wants this even more than we do. He said:

 

“And then, there is another waiting, more sorrowful still:  the yearning, the ardent desire, the long anxieties for the Kingdom of My Divine Will.  It is about six thousand years that I am waiting that the creature re-enters into It….My greater suffering is the continuous waiting.  My Gazes are always fixed on souls, and as I see that a creature is fallen into sin, then I wait, and I wait again, for her return to My Heart in order to pardon her.  The hours, the days, that I wait, seem years to Me.  O! how hard it is to wait.

 

But He also said: “At the most, it will be a question of time…Our Power will make such Prodigies, man will abound with New Graces, New Love, New Light, so that Our Dwellings will recognize Us and they themselves, with spontaneous will, will give Us the Dominion…Therefore, you, pray, and may your cry be continuous:  ‘May the Kingdom of Your Fiat come, and Your Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven.”

 

So that’s what we must do. Those are our orders while we are waiting. Our cry for the Kingdom to Come must be continuous.

 

Now, I know some who are hearing this are doubting. And I understand; I won’t hold that against you. These are incredible sayings. But let me just ask you this: why not?

 

Why not take these orders? Why not pray the greatest petition of the greatest prayer with all of your heart? Why not pray it with fervor, trust, and faith that it truly can be fulfilled in the most clear and undeniable way? Why not say, continuously, with all of your strength, “THY KINGDCOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”

 

Why not?

 

But for this cry to be truly heard and as powerful as possible before God, we must make this cry when we ourselves are in His Divine Will. So continuously hold all of this before your mind to encourage you, because there is much work for us to do to live and pray and act in the Divine Will.

Submission to the Divine Will in Everything

 

In Dogmatic Theology we speak of a distinction between God’s permissive will and God’s ordained will; and it is a very important distinction. It is the distinction between those things that God specifically wants to happen or specifically causes Himself, versus those things that God does not want in and of themselves, but which He permits in order to allow for a greater good to come from them which could not possibly come any other way.

 

However, this distinction it is not a useful one when we are considering how to react to what already has happened or is happening.

 

In fact, in that case, it’s worse than useless: it is specifically dangerous because it disposes us to rebellion instead of submission. And Submission to the Divine Will is, truly, everything.

 

St. Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church and one of the best spiritual guides in Church History, wrote: “It is certain and of faith [meaning dogmatic], that whatever happens, happens by the will of God.” Mother Teresa was once asked, “Mother, how do I know God’s Will?” She just smiled, paused, and responded, “… see what happens.”

 

The 18^th Century Jesuit Spiritual Master Fr. Caussaude taught that “The true philosopher’s stone is submission to the will of God which changes into divine gold all occupations, troubles, and sufferings… O my God! how much I long to be the missionary of Your holy will, and to teach all men that there is nothing more easy, more attainable, more within reach, and in the power of everyone, than sanctity… Sanctity, then, consists in willing all that God wills for us. Yes! Sanctity of heart is a simple “fiat,” a conformity of will with the will of God.”

 

Fr. Caussaude pointed out that everything was identical between the two thieves crucified with Our Lord; everything except submission to the will of God. One submitted, one rebelled. It is that simple.

 

Now, there are two heresies we need to steer clear of: Providentialism and Quietism, whereby we are basically passively and blindly indifferent to circumstances and our role in affecting them.

 

But staying away from these heresies is not as difficult as most people make it out to be; usually the circumstances make it quite clear whether we are to do something about a situation or not.

 

For example: Is there discord between you and someone else? If there is something moral that you can reasonably do to be at peace with this person, then do it. If not– if you have done nothing wrong, and are doing nothing wrong– then God is arranging these circumstances to help detach you from creatures (perhaps even your very closest loved ones) so that you can be more attached to Him alone.

 

Have you come down with a sickness or injury? Take your doctor’s advice — even if it’s to take pain medications — and then rejoice in whatever suffering remains after that, because it consists in God taking direct control over your mortification, which is so much better and so much easier than us trying to figure out mortification on our own.

 

This applies just as well to small, everyday matters. Are you stuck behind someone who is driving too slowly? Pass him if you can, safely and legally. Otherwise, you’re called to be patient, prayerful, and relishing God’s Will in slowing you down because He wants you to pray more before you reach your destination.

 

If we are truly honest with ourselves, there’s rarely confusion on what we should do. The problem isn’t not knowing. It’s not willing.

 

And in terms of how we should react interiorly to anything whatsoever, that is always completely clear: with peace and submission. Our reaction should never, ever consist in complaining, annoyance, moodiness, irritation, resentment, or anything resembling these. About annoyance, Jesus tells Luisa: “My daughter, one who really loves Me never gets annoyed about anything, but tries to convert all things into love.  …  The weight of any action, be it even an indifferent one, increases according to the dose of love it contains… Therefore I want no annoyance in you, but always peace; because in annoyances, in disturbances, it is always the love of self that wants to come out to reign, or the enemy to do harm.”

 

Submission to God’s Will in our lives is also about never asking “why?” but instead, as St. Paul admonishes us in Thessalonians, “in all circumstances [giving] thanks: for this is God’s Will.”

 

Here is what Jesus tells Luisa about asking “why”:

 

“In almost all of the events that occur, creatures keep repeating, over and over again: ‘And why? And why? And why? Why this illness? Why this scourge?’ …The explanation of ‘why’ is not written on earth, but in Heaven, and there everyone will read it…Do you know where ‘why’ was created? In hell. Who was the first one that pronounced it? A demon…. there is no evil in the world which does not carry the mark of ‘why’. ‘Why’ is destruction of divine wisdom in souls. And do you know where ‘why’ will be buried? In hell, to make them restless for eternity, without ever giving them peace.”

 

So instead of asking “why” to the difficulties that life presents, we need to above all pay special attention to the Divine Will operating in our lives in the crosses and sufferings in order to always bear them with patience, resignation, and prayer. Luisa says about suffering for love of Jesus: “Oh, coin of inestimable value! If all of us knew it, we would compete with one another to suffer more. But I believe we are all shortsighted in knowing this coin so precious”

 

Because the Cross and the Cross alone reveals who we really are. Everything else – and that truly means everything – even the Sacraments, can be “loved” without true love existing in the heart. So our reaction to crosses tells us who we are with certainty. Jesus said to Luisa: “My daughter, it is really so, the cross alone is that which makes one know whether he really loves the Lord – but a cross carried with patience and resignation, because where there is patience and resignation in crosses, there is divine life. Since nature is so reluctant to suffering, if there is patience, it cannot be something natural, but divine…On the other hand, in the other things, and even the very Sacraments, cannot give the certainty of the cross. “

 

He also said: “My daughter, it was not my works, nor my preaching, nor the very power of my miracles that made Me recognized with clarity as the God I am, but when I was put on the Cross and lifted up on It as though on my own throne – then was I recognized as God. So, the Cross alone revealed Me to the world and to the whole of hell for Who I really was. All were shaken and recognized their Creator. Therefore, it is the Cross that reveals God to the soul, and makes known whether the soul is truly of God. It can be said that the Cross uncovers all the intimate parts of the soul and reveals to God and to men who she is.”

 

Luisa was even told by a soul in Purgatory how to know how you stand before God, and this soul assured Luisa that “It takes nothing to know whether you are doing well or badly: if you appreciate suffering, you are doing well; if you don’t, you are doing badly.”

 

This does not mean we need to be ascetic monks. We should indeed do penance, weekly fasting, and mortification; it should regular, but not constant; significant, but not severe; and above all: judged entirely by the love with which we undertake it, and not the external apparent degree of the sacrifice. And much more important even than the mortifications we impose intentionally upon ourselves is how we react to the crosses that Providence places in our lives.

 

But allow me to present one more point before we move on to the next item. Just as much as whatever has happened is God’s Will; so too, whatever hasn’t yet happened has not happened because of the fact that it was not God’s Will. So it is just as important that we submit ourselves to the Divine Will in what hasn’t happened, instead of being envious or resentful because of what our life seems to lack– even if it appears to be a holy thing that we lack.

 

Do you envy a friend who has the perfect parish? The perfect family? Who goes on the perfect pilgrimages?

 

Here’s what Our Lord says to Luisa about that: “My daughter, the more things of which the soul deprives herself down here, the more she will have up there in Heaven. So, the poorer on earth, the richer in Heaven; the more she is deprived of tastes, pleasures, amusements, trips, strolls on earth, the more tastes and pleasures she will have in God…. So, one who leaves the earth, takes Heaven, be it even in the smallest thing. Therefore, it follows that the more one is despised, the more he is honored; the smaller, the greater; the more submitted, the more dominant; and so with all the rest. Yet, of the mortals, who thinks of depriving himself of something on earth, to have it eternally in Heaven? Almost no one.”

 

Even if the thing you do not have is something that you haven’t willfully and specifically chosen to deprive yourself of– but rather, it’s something that God simply hasn’t blessed you with– then still offer that up. Simply offer your Fiat to God regarding whatever is lacking in your Earthly life, and you receive a thousand times that in Heaven; just by submitting.

Love and Purity of Intention

 

We can make this very brief: If you’re acquainted with St. Therese of Lisiuex’s “Little Way,” then you know exactly what Jesus expects of us through His words to Luisa as well.

 

Many acquainted with Luisa’s writings are used to hearing about how the Divine Will is the greatest possible gift, and indeed it is. But Jesus also told Luisa that “My Divine Will is light, love is heat. Light and heat are inseparable from each other, and form the same life… My Divine Will is life, my love is food.” He said, “my daughter, there is nothing that can surpass Love…”

 

It is very striking in Jesus’ words to Luisa how utterly irrelevant the externalities of any action or mission are, and how the most seemingly holy endeavors are actually often undertaken for vain motives and are therefore displeasing to God. If we take an honest look around us at many apostolates these days, that’s not surprising. They’ve got self-glory, self-love, and self-interest written all over them.

 

Jesus says to Luisa: “My Person is surrounded by all the works that souls do, as by a garment; and the more purity of intention and intensity of love they have, the more splendor they give Me, and I will give them more glory; so much so, that on the Day of Judgment I will show them to the whole world, to let the whole world know how my children have honored Me, and how I honor them.”   but “…My daughter, what will happen to so many works, even good, done without purity of intention, out of habit and self-interest? What shame will not fall upon them on the Day of Judgment, in seeing so many works, good in themselves, but made rotten by their intention, such that, their very actions, instead of rendering honor to them, as they would to many others, will give them shame? In fact, I do not look at the greatness of the works, but at the intention with which they are done. Here is all my attention.”

 

Jesus is begging us through Luisa to spend less time worrying and plotting and planning what to do, and instead spend more focus on ensuring that everything we do is nothing but an expression of love. Specifically, love of God, and love of neighbor; in that order. And Jesus insists that love of neighbor must be because of the fact that our neighbor bears God’s image. He told Luisa,

“true charity is when, in doing good to his neighbor, one does it because he is my image. All the charity that goes out of this sphere cannot be called charity.”

 

In discerning what we are called to do, either on a day to day basis or even our very vocation itself, we should not so much spend our time strategizing, and we certainly shouldn’t be ever thinking about what’s in it for us. Instead, we should ask, “In what endeavor can I most intensely love God, and love souls for the sake of God?” If we let that question alone guide us, then we’ll be on the right path.

 

So if we are about to do, say, or think anything that might possibly not proceed from love, then we need to stop. We then must reformulate this act within ourselves, and ensure that it proceeds from love and is formed entirely and unquestionably out of love, and then and only then, proceed prayerfully with it.

 

Jesus tells Luisa: “I do not want this restless heart. Everything in you must be sweetness and peace… I love this sweetness and peace so much, that even if it were about something great concerning my honor and glory, I do not want, I never approve, resentful, violent, fiery manners, but rather, sweet and peaceful manners… If one speaks about or deals with things, even of God, with manners that are not sweet and peaceful, it is a sign that he does not have his passions in order; and one who does not keep himself in order, cannot order others. Therefore, be careful with anything which is not sweetness and peace, if you do not want to dishonor Me.”

 

Sweetness and peace are not identical to love; but they are the demeanors that love will usually – indeed, almost always – take. Needless to say, Jesus expects us to be enormous signs of contradiction in the world in this regard. All we have to do is remind ourselves of the Beatitudes.

 

Now, sometimes those who spend a lot of time focusing on Luisa’s writings can forget that they are not bedridden victim soul mystics who subsist on the Eucharist alone! So let’s get even more practical and concrete about what this love looks like that Jesus asks of us. Because Living in the Divine Will is not an invitation to be a navel-gazer; it is an invitation to deepen our response to our calling, wherever that may be, as God expects us to be the light wherever He has put us.

 

First of all, Jesus tells Luisa: “My daughter, the sign to know whether one has true charity is that he loves the poor. In fact, if he loves the rich and is available for them, he may do so because he hopes for something or obtains something, or because he is in sympathy with them, or because of their nobility, intelligence, eloquence, and even out of fear. But if he loves the poor, helps them, supports them, it is because he sees in them the image of God, therefore he does not look at roughness, ignorance, rudeness, misery. Through those miseries, as though through a glass, he sees God, from whom he hopes for everything; and so he loves them, helps them, consoles them as if he were doing it to God Himself. “

 

Now as important as that is, there is another teaching Our Lord gave to Luisa that we must keep in mind. He says:

 

“The charity most acceptable to Me is toward those who are closest to Me, and those who are closest to Me are the purging souls …And how pleasing to my Heart one who interests himself with them. “The second charity most acceptable to my Heart is for those who, though living on this earth, are almost like the purging souls – that is, they love Me, they always do my Will, they interest themselves with my things as if they were their own. Now, if these are oppressed, in need, in a state of sufferings, and someone occupies himself with relieving them and helping them, this is more pleasing to my Heart than if it were done to others.” …if a sinner were oppressed, in the midst of a misfortune, and one occupied himself, not to convert him, but to relieve him and help him materially, the Lord would be more pleased if this were done for those who are in the order of grace.”

 

Both of these teachings that Jesus gives to Luisa are so important for us to hear in this day and age of evangelization-free social justice zones; where so many in the Church seem obsessed with giving out food and money and everything else, while at the same time making sure to ignore and even prohibit the spiritual works of mercy from existing alongside the corporal! And on the other extreme, we see apologetics-liturgy-and-theology only zones where the actual needs of people are completely ignored and not one finger is lifted to help.

 

So we need to love the poor; but when it comes to serving those not in God’s grace, this must always be combined with evangelization; not proselytizing, but gently and charitably witnessing to the Gospel as we perform the Corporal Works of Mercy.

 

And as Our Lord says, the best form of charity is that towards the souls in purgatory. We need to pray and sacrifice for them every day.

 

But how do we love? Obviously it’s easier said than done. But we receive the strength to do it – because love is an act of the will, not a feeling –  by remembering that God loves us.

 

Jesus tells Luisa: “Do you want to know why Adam sinned? Because he forgot that I loved him and he forgot to love Me. This was the first seed of His fall. Had he thought that I loved him very much and that he was obliged to love Me, he would never have decided to disobey Me. So, first love ceased, and then began sin…  This is why, in coming upon earth, the thing to which I gave greatest importance was that they love one another as they were loved by Me, in order to give them my first Love, to let the Love of the Most Holy Trinity breathe over the earth.”

 

So what is the best way to remember – because the memory is the beginning of every good, as Jesus says –how much God loves us? The Passion.

 

Meditating on the Passion is the most powerful way to know God’s love for us. And the best way to meditate on the Passion – and it is even more than meditation – is to prayerfully read Luisa’s Hours of the Passion that Jesus gave to her. If you are attentive in reading that, you cannot leave doing so without being powerfully reminded of God’s love for us. So please keep the Hours of the Passion handy, and read it regularly. Consider that Jesus promises Luisa the salvation of a soul for every word of these Hours of the Passion that you prayerfully read in the Divine Will!

 

Jesus tells Luisa: “If the soul remembers my Passion twenty, a hundred, a thousand times, so many more times will she enjoy Its effects. But how few are those who make a treasure of it! …All the remedies needed for the whole humanity are in my life and passion. But the creature despises the medicine and does not care… that which saddens Me the most is to see religious people who tire themselves out in order to acquire doctrines, speculations, stories; but about my Passion – nothing. So, many times my Passion is banished from churches, from the mouth of priests; therefore, their speech is without Light, and the peoples remain more starved than before…” 

 

This tragedy of course has only gotten infinitely worse since Luisa’s time. Today, Crucifixes often cannot even be found in Catholic Churches; homilies are often reduced to self-esteem pep talks; Good Friday is completely neglected for the sake of Easter Sunday; and the list goes on. It’s as if the Church has largely succumbed to the most dangerous new age heresy: the power of positive thinking, and that meditation on the Passion is considered “negativity.” This lie insists that one must never even think of anything negative, for doing so will “attract” it to one’s self.

 

So we have to fight this trend, and most importantly, refuse to succumb to it ourselves.  Instead, we need to truly be almost fixated upon Our Lord’s Passion as the source of all good in this fallen world.

 

Constant Trust, Peace, and Courage

 

This area is where the Divine Mercy revelations to St. Faustina and the Divine Will revelations to Luisa Piccarreta really go hand in hand. Trust precedes everything.

 

But at the onset we must again remind ourselves that it’s not necessarily about feelings. Jesus tells Luisa: “Your Jesus never looks at what the creature feels, because many times feelings can deceive her.  I look at her will and what she really wants.  That’s all I take.  How many things there are that she feels but does not do; but, if she wills, all is done.”

 

And also before we delve more into Trust, Peace, and Courage, we have point out the necessity of constancy in all of these things. One of the traits which Jesus most consistently tells Luisa is a sign that one is not in the Divine Will is a lack of constancy, because it is an inversion of God’s own Immutability, and the soul who lives in the Divine Will must have the same qualities that God has.

 

He says: “Someone else is patient on certain occasions; be they even serious sufferings, he looks like a lamb that does not even open its mouth to lament. But with another suffering, maybe smaller, he loses his temper, he gets irritated, he swears. Is this perhaps the patience whose root is fixed in my Heart? Certainly not. Someone else one day is all fervent, he prays always, to the point of transgressing the duties of his state; but another day he has had an encounter a little disappointing, he feels cold, and he abandons prayer completely, to the point of transgressing the duties of a Christian – the prayers of obligation. Is this perhaps my spirit of prayer, as I reached the point of sweating blood, of feeling the agony of death, and yet I never neglected prayer for one single moment? Certainly not.”

 

Now don’t despair if you think this might somewhat describe you; it just means you have work to do. It means your virtues have emotional foundations; they are tied to things like hormones, circumstances, and so on. So we need to work on ensuring that all of these virtues are true habits of the will; we’ll know we’ve arrived at that point when they do not depend upon anything, but are steady and reliable.

 

And so, since constancy in trust, peace, and courage are especially important for Living in the Divine Will, let us briefly touch on each.

 

First of all, trust. As we said, it precedes everything. Jesus tells Luisa, “I love so much that souls be with Me in full trust. Oh! how many times, because of lack of trust, my designs and the greatest sanctities are blocked. This is why I tolerate some defects rather than distrust – because those can never be so harmful.”

 

Jesus also says: “My daughter, the souls who will shine the most, like bright gems in the crown of my divine mercy, are the souls who have more trust, because the more trusting they are, the more they give space for the attribute of my Mercy to pour into them all the Graces that they want. there is no worry that they may feel ashamed or afraid; rather, they become more brave and take everything in order to love Me more. Therefore, trusting souls are the outpouring and the amusement of my Love – the most graceful and the richest ones.”

 

So what does it mean to trust if it’s not a feeling? It means in part refusing to willfully submit to any fear whatsoever.

 

And how to do that is very simple: just say it, and try to mean it. Say “Jesus, I Trust in You” over, and over, and over again, and every time you say it, keep trying to mean it more and more. That’s all He asks. The more you say that, the more you will be at peace. It’s okay if you have to say that all day. When you say it, God takes you at your word. And once you are at peace with everything, and nothing whatsoever can steal away that peace from you, you will know that you truly trust the Lord.

 

This means that trust causes courage as well.

 

One who is striving to Live in the Divine Will must have absolutely no fear of anything whatsoever. Not many people are at that point. If someone asks us what we’re afraid of, a whole host of things come to mind: Suffering, Illness, Loss of a loved one, Persecution, The Devil, Financial disaster, and the list goes on.

 

But we’re not done until that list of fears is completely and utterly empty. If someone asks you what you’re afraid of, you need to, without hesitation, respond: “nothing” –  and mean it.

 

And if we believe Jesus, and His words to Luisa, that should be easy. What follow are a mere few of the reasons from the Book of Heaven to have no fear.

 

Should we be afraid of being confronted with a task of some sort that we are simply not up to, or not capable of? Here’s what Jesus says to Luisa about that: “My daughter, I feel like giving to the creature the necessary Strength or, rather, an Overabundant Strength, only in the moment when she sets herself to do what I want-not before. Otherwise she would feel the Strength but still not do what I want, and I do not know how to give useless things.  How many, before doing an action, feel so helpless; but then as soon as they put themselves to work they feel Invested by a New Strength, a New Light.  I am the one who charged them, since I never lack the necessary Strength to do Good.  Rather, this need ties Me and forces Me, if necessary, to act together with them.”

 

So if we are doing God’s Will, then Jesus says here that He is forced to give overabundant strength; but only once we begin! Not when we’re standing there thinking about it. We must remember that.

 

Courage is also what enables us to remain moving in the spiritual life; instead of remaining paralyzed in fear, or laziness, or pride. Jesus said, “My daughter, they say that the path of virtue is difficult. False. It is difficult for one who does not move… for one who moves, it is extremely easy…” So if we keep on moving, and keep on exercising courage in advancing in the spiritual life, following our callings, making sure we are always growing, never being satisfied with or defending our vices, then virtue will be easy because Jesus will be forced to give us this overabundant strength.

 

But should we at least be afraid of the devil? Of course not. Here’s what Jesus tells Luisa about him: “the devil is the most cowardly creature that can exist, and a contrary act, a contempt, a prayer, are enough to make him flee. In fact, these acts render him even more cowardly than he is, and in order not to bear that confusion, as soon as he sees the soul resolute in not wanting to pay attention to his cowardice, he flees terrified.”

 

Should we be afraid of hell? No, because only we can send ourselves there. Luisa once wrote: “a thought flew into my mind while I was praying: ‘Have you ever thought that you might be lost?’ and Jesus responded   “My daughter, this is true strangeness, which saddens my love very much… to one who doubts about my Love, and fears that she might be lost, I would say: ‘How is this? I give you my flesh for food; you live completely from my own. If you are ill, I heal you with the Sacraments. If you are stained, I wash you with my Blood. I can say that I am almost at your disposal – and you doubt? Do you want to sadden Me? Tell Me, then: do you love someone else? Do you recognize someone else as your father, since you say that you are not my daughter? And if this is not the case, why do you want to afflict yourself and sadden Me? Aren’t the bitternesses that others give Me enough – you too want to add pains in my Heart?”

 

Maybe we should at least be afraid of death itself? Not at all. Jesus tells Luisa the most beautiful things about the point of death.

 

Of a soul dying who lives in the Divine Will, Jesus says: “What will the surprise of this soul be when, once the prison of her body is broken, immediately she will find herself in the sea of as many pleasures and happinesses, as much light and beauty, for as much more good as she has done – be it even a thought! What fear can the soul have, in her dying, of coming to Me, if she is already in Me?”

 

Jesus also says this about the point of death; not merely for a soul who lives in the Divine Will, but for everyone: “So, one day the walls fall down, and she can see with her own eyes what they had told her before.  She sees her God and Father, Who Loved her with Great Love;   Everything disappears; the only thing that remains present to her is in that room with fallen walls: Eternity….My Goodness is such, wanting everyone saved, that I allow the falling of these walls when the creatures find themselves between life and death-at the moment in which the soul exits the body to enter Eternity-so that they may do at least one act of contrition and of Love for Me, recognizing My Adorable Will upon them.  I can say that I give them one hour of Truth, in order to rescue them.  O, if all knew My Industries of Love, that I perform in the last moment of their life, so that they may not escape from My more than Paternal Hands-they would not wait for that moment, but they would love Me all their life.”

 

So what is left to fear? There is absolutely nothing. If we insist upon fearing anything, we can only possibly speak of two legitimate types of “fear”: 1) the Fear of God as a Gift of the Holy Spirit; which is filial, not servile (it is more properly called reverence, awe, and a horror at the thought of hurting someone you love) …. Or, 2) the fear of the self-will; the one and only thing that can send us to hell and cause us to sin.

 

Jesus says to Luisa, “banish every fear, if you do not want to displease me.”

 

Fear, however, is not the only thing opposed to courage. We also must be on guard against discouragement, timidity, and other such vices. Here’s what Jesus tells Luisa about these things:

 

“My daughter, don’t you know that discouragement kills souls more than all other vices?  Therefore, courage, courage, because just as discouragement kills, courage revives, and is the most praiseworthy act that the soul can do, because while feeling discouraged, from that very discouragement she plucks up courage, undoes herself and hopes; and by undoing herself, she already finds herself redone in God.” He also says “My daughter, timidity represses Grace and hampers the soul. A timid soul will never be good at operating great things, either for God, or for her neighbor, or for herself. On the other hand, in one day a courageous soul does more than a timid one does in one year.”

 

It is so important to never be discouraged in striving to receive the Divine Will because it’s not like the moral virtues, which can only really be acquired slowly but surely, over a long time, with human effort aided by grace. Although you can lose the Divine Will in an instant by sinning (therefore, doing your own will) you can also receive it back in an instant. So do not be discouraged! Remember that Jesus said to Luisa, “So if the creature were to die after one decided and wanted act of Living in My Volition, she will take flight toward Heaven.”  And remember also that we need only desire the Gift, and Jesus does the rest. He wants to give you the Gift far more than you could ever want to receive it.

 

Every fall – every time we go back to the self-will –  is specifically permitted by God so that we will glorify His mercy even more when we return back into it. And we have to trust that it really is possible, each time we return to His Will, that we will never leave it.

 

However, we hasten the day in which we will permanently enter the Divine Will by complete detachment and emptiness.

 

Detachment and Emptiness

 

Jesus expects us to be completely empty of everything that is not Himself. He says to Luisa: “My daughter, the sun is symbol of grace… as long as there is empty space and a little opening through which to penetrate, it enters and fills everything with light… it does not enter but into empty hearts… these voids, then – how are they formed? Humility is the hoe which digs and forms the void. Detachment from everything and also from oneself is the void itself. The window in order to let the grace of light enter into this void, is trust in God and distrust of ourselves”

 

This might seem hard, but really, detachment only seems hard when we choose to surround ourselves with and mire ourselves in those things that we need to be detached from. So we need to be extremely careful and intentional about what we surround ourselves with: what our homes are filled with, what our conversations consist of, with whom we spend our time, what we do with our free time, and so on. Our whole lives need to be full of things that do not breed attachment.

 

One thing especially that makes Living in the Divine Will impossible is mundane, idle, vain, worldly conversation. Jesus says, “One who talks much shows that he is empty in his interior, while one who is filled with God, finding more taste in his interior, does not want to lose that taste… he tries, as much as he can, to impress in others that which he feels within himself. On the other hand, on who talks much is not only empty of God, but with his much talking, he tries to empty others of God.” That might seem harsh until we remind ourselves of Our Lord’s words in the Gospel, where He teaches us that we have to give an account for every idle word we speak. St. Faustina, too, said that a talkative soul cannot be sanctified.

 

Now, complete detachment also means being detached from even thinking of ourselves. First of all, this means complete detachment from the past; our own past, or others’ pasts. Jesus says to Luisa, “the thought of the past is really absurd-it is like wanting to claim Divine Rights.”

 

But it is true that we all have to examine our lives to see if we are succeeding in working toward becoming saints, absolutely. A nightly examination of conscience is a good thing to do in this regard. But if it becomes much more than that, sanctification can easily become a self-centered, instead of a self-forgetful, endeavor.

 

Jesus tells Luisa that “Not thinking of oneself, but thinking only of Me, and only of loving Me, whatever the circumstance, is light for the mind and forms a sweet divine enchantment.” And “Thinking of oneself is the same as going out of God and returning to live in oneself. Moreover, thinking of oneself is never virtue, but always vice, be it even under the aspect of good.”

 

Remember that humility isn’t self-loathing or criticizing ourselves in front of others—that’s usually just thinly veiled compliment fishing. Humility is forgetting ourselves entirely because we are so enraptured by God who is infinitely greater than we are. It breeds in one’s heart a desire to turn the eyes of all to the grandeur of God; this entails even turning their eyes away from something that is good in one’s self.

 

We even need to be detached from our prayer intentions; at least those which might or might not be God’s Will. We can and should still pray for temporal things; for healings, safety, for prayer intentions that people ask us to pray for, and what not. But at the end of all such intentions we should add, at least interiorly, “Thy Will, not mine, be done.”

 

In truth, we must work toward losing even our tastes for everything other than God. This doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy the good things God has given us; rather, we should enjoy them! But St. Francis de Sales teaches that we know when we have an attachment to, or taste for, something when we are thinking about it when we’re not doing it. Here’s what Jesus tells Luisa about that:

 

 “My daughter, courage, the beginning of eternal beatitude is to lose every taste of one’s own. In fact, as the soul keeps losing her own tastes, the divine tastes take possession of her…No soul that enters the port of eternal beatitude can be exempted from this point – painful, yes, but necessary; nor can she do without it. Generally people do it at the point of death, and Purgatory does the last job; But with the souls who are my beloved, since they have given themselves completely to Me, I do not want their beatitude to have beginning up there in Heaven, but to have beginning down here on earth. I want to fill them not only with the happiness, with the glory of Heaven, but I want to fill them with the goods, with the sufferings, with the virtues that my Humanity had upon earth; therefore I strip them, not only of material tastes, which the soul considers as dung, but also of spiritual tastes, in order to fill them completely with my goods and give them the beginning of true beatitude.”

 

Now, we have to remind ourselves what we talked about in the beginning: is living in the Divine Will easy or hard? It’s easy! Considering what Our Lord just said, it seems hard. But it isn’t so. Because He is the potter. He has the master plan. He has arranged everything. Detachment might seem like the hardest thing, but God makes it easy by asking small things of us as little tests, and the question is how we respond to these little tests. That’s exactly how it was in the Garden of Eden as well. Jesus tells Luisa:

 

“I wanted from Adam the little sacrifice of depriving himself of a fruit, and it was not granted to Me. …The same happens in all creatures.  It is My usual way to ask for small sacrifices-depriving oneself of a pleasure, of a desire, of a small interest, of a vanity, or detaching oneself from something that seems to do one no harm.  These small tests serve as little shelves on which to place the great capital of My Grace in order to dispose them to accept greater sacrifices.  And when the soul is faithful to Me in the small tests, then I abound in grace and ask for greater sacrifices, so as to be able to abound yet more in giving, and I make of her a portent of sanctity.  How many sanctities begin from a small sacrifice; and how many, after denying Me a small sacrifice, as it seemed to them that it was something of no importance, have remained scrawny in good, cretinous in comprehending it, weak in walking on the way that leads to Heaven.  Poor ones, they can be seen crawling and licking the earth in a way that arouses pity….Therefore, My daughter, it takes greater attention to small sacrifices than to great ones, because the small ones are the strength of the great, dispose God to give grace, and the soul to receive it.”

 

God is asking that we be faithful and attentive to His operating in our lives. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we haven’t always been. It’s so easy to hear that voice whispering in your mind and heart, asking you to give something up, showing you the vanity of something, showing you the emptiness of another thing, showing you the worldliness of something else…. and responding to that voice with: “But there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s fine! I like it. I’m going to keep doing it.”

 

“…the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.“ Genesis 3:6. The Fall of Man. Do not be a child of the Fall; rather, be a child of the Divine Will.

 

Now we could go on for a long time with the list of things that we need to be detached from; because, quite simply, it’s everything. But the point is this: if we are attentive in the small things, then God will work the detachment in our souls before we know it, and we’ll barely even feel it.

 

But we’re not Buddhists. We don’t believe in emptiness for the sake of emptiness as an end in and of itself. Rather, emptiness is merely a means to the end of being filled with God. And God particularly fills us through the knowledges on His Divine Will, which brings us to our next point:

 

Devour Knowledge of the Gift

 

Now, you might wonder why I would recommend devouring knowledge of the Gift of Living in the Divine Will if this gift is so easy, simple, and quick to receive!

 

That’s because Living in the Divine Will is not a bland, boring, communistic thing with only one level and all participants within it bearing a mere identical sameness. Instead, once we’re in the Divine Will, we are called to continue advancing within It. Jesus assures Luisa that just as there are nine choirs of angels, so too there are nine choirs in the Divine Will; and we should all strive for the highest. We do so through the knowledges.

 

He tells Luisa: “These Truths will form, according to their knowledge, the different categories of the souls who will Live in My Will.  One Knowledge more, or one less, will make them rise or stay in the different categories. Knowledge will be the hand to boost them up to the higher categories-it will be the very Life of the Fullness of My Will within them.”

 

The more knowledge you have of the Divine Will, the more power the Gift has. Jesus tells Luisa, “Every time I speak to you about my Will and you acquire new understanding and knowledge, your act in my Will receives more value and you acquire more immense riches.” He likens this to a man who, possessing a gem but unaware of its value, gets it appraised and realizes it is worth millions of dollars. This knowledge essentially makes the man richer, even though he already had the gem before. So too with us; our gem – our pearl – is the Gift of the Divine Will.

 

Jesus even tells Luisa that we would die of joy if we knew how much value there is to Him teaching us one truth about His Will. He says, “In all the sayings, truths, examples, which I make you write on paper, I make flow the dignity of my celestial wisdom, in such a way that those who read them, or will read them, if they are in grace, will feel within themselves my tenderness, the firmness of my speech and the light of my wisdom, and, as though in between magnets, they will be drawn into the knowledge of my Will.”

 

Jesus promises that every word He reveals to Luisa on His Will is another blow He gives to the human will. So if you feel overwhelmed by your human will and incapable of renouncing it, then receive strength to do so by reading Our Lord’s words to Luisa.

 

Now this is truly astounding: we here on Earth are given the task of bringing these knowledges to Heaven. Jesus says to Luisa: “My daughter, the more truths I manifest to you, the greater variety of beatitudes I give to you as gift. Each truth contains within itself a distinct beatitude, happiness, joy and beauty … when the soul is in her Fatherland in Heaven they will be like electric wires of communication through which the Divinity will unleash from Its womb so many acts of beatitude for as many truths as one has known. ….  Do you believe that all of Heaven is aware of all my goods? No, no! Oh, how much remains for It to enjoy, which It does not enjoy today! Each creature who enters into Heaven, having known one more truth, which was unknown to the others, will carry within herself the seed so as to have new contentments, new joys and new beauty unleashed from Me. And these souls will be their cause and fount, while the others will take part in them. The last day will not come if I do not find souls who are disposed, so that I may reveal all my truths – so that the Celestial Jerusalem may resound with my complete Glory, and all the Blessed may share in all of my beatitudes.”

 

There are so many truths that Jesus reveals to Luisa, and each Truth can be understood on so many levels, in so many ways, that I don’t doubt for one moment that everyone reading this is called to bring to Heaven, as the first bearers of them; a whole army of new beatitudes from your own treasury that you receive from reading Luisa’s writings.

 

It’s also essential that we help others on Earth devour knowledge of the Gift. Jesus even promises that, just as the Four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were and are especially honored because they made His Gospel known, so too those who now proclaim the Divine Will message and spread its knowledges will, in the age to come, be even more honored. That is an honor that is legitimate to strive for. And we all should do so.

 

Now some of, if not the, most beautiful truths that we should devour and spread are those on Our Lady. So let’s move on to her.

 

Devotion to Our Lady

 

No one has ever spoken so powerfully and beautifully about Our Lady as Luisa has – or, more specifically, as Jesus and Mary have to Luisa.

 

So we need to remember that Divine Will spirituality is never about choosing between it and devotion to Mary. Our Lady told Luisa: “All the Lessons that He has given you, and also more, are already written in My Heart, and in seeing them repeated to you, I enjoy one more Paradise in every Lesson… My daughter, I am always with Jesus, however at times I hide in Him and it seems that He does everything as if He were without Me, instead I am within, I concur there together, and I am aware of what He does.  Other times, He hides in His Mama, and He makes Me act by Myself, but He is always concurrent together with Me.  Other times We both unveil Ourselves together, and the souls see the Mother and the Son who Love them so much, But be certain that if My Son is there, I am; and that if I am, My Son is.”

 

Remember that Jesus and Mary are truly doing everything together; including all operations in the Divine Will. If we are to receive the Gift of Living in the Divine Will, we will receive it through Our Lady. So we can never forget her. We need to pray the Rosary every day and be extremely devoted to her. I recommend as well the Brown Scapular, the Miraculous Medal, and St. Louis de Montfort’s 33 Day Consecration to her.

 

Especially important is reading the revelations Our Lady gave to Luisa, the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. As is always the case in the order of grace, Mary is the shortcut to receiving the Gift of Living in the Divine Will; if we follow the lessons she gives in these revelations (which in deference to Mary’s role as shortcut are also very brief – a mere couple hundred pages – and Moratorium Free, so simply do a Google search for it!) we can be assured of receiving the Gift.

 

Finally, in receiving the Eucharist, we need to use the time after receiving Him as the most precious moments of our lives. These moments indeed were also Luisa’s most precious, and if possible we should receive Him each day as well. We must bear in mind that this, too, is a Marian event. Our Lady says to Luisa: “If Jesus descends into hearts Sacramentally, I descend together with Him in order to guarantee My Gift; I can not leave Him alone….how badly they treat Him for Me.  Some do not tell Him one ‘I love You’ from the heart, and I must Love Him.  Some receive Him distracted, without thinking about the Great Gift that they receive, and I pour Myself over Him in order to not let Him feel their distractions and coldnesses. These are scenes of Heaven, and the Angels themselves remain enraptured by it, “But who can tell you everything?  I am the Bearer of Jesus, nor does He want to go anywhere without Me, so much so that when the priest is about to pronounce the words of the Consecration over the Holy Host, I make wings with My Maternal Hands so that He descends by means of My hands in order to consecrate Himself…”

 

Before you receive Communion, pray to receive It in His Will as Our Lady did and as He Himself did at the Last Supper. Thus you will Communicate in the most powerful possible way, and God can work in His Unbridled Omnipotence through you. Jesus told Luisa, “Receive Communion in my Will, repeat what I did, and in this way you will not only repair everything, but will give Me to all as I intended to give Myself to all, and will give Me the glory as if all had received Communion. My Heart feels moved in seeing that, unable to give Me anything from her own which is worthy of Me, the creature takes my things, she makes them her own, she imitates the way I did them, and to please Me, she gives them to Me…The acts in my Will are the simplest acts, but, because they are simple, they communicate themselves to all. The light of the Sun, because it is simple, is light of every eye – yet the Sun is one. One act alone in my Will, like most simple light, diffuses itself in every heart, in every work, in everyone – yet the act is one.”

 

So that brings us to the final point: doing our Acts and prayers in the Divine Will.

 

Pray always and act always IN the Divine Will

 

Jesus is asking us not only to renounce the self-will so as to receive the Divine Will, but specifically to also intentionally undertake all of our acts as acts done in the Divine Will. Jesus reveals to Luisa that this is exactly what He did during His 30 years of hidden life in Nazareth.

 

If you try to make everything you do into a prayer already, as Therese of Lisieux speaks of and as St. Josemaría Escrivá and countless other saints speak of, then you’re already well on your way to acting IN the Divine Will.

 

This is also important because Jesus is not content being without our love and prayer for even a single moment. As a spouse madly in love, He loves us too much to tolerate that separation. And yet even in the Divine Will, as we settled from the outset, we still have to live our ordinary lives as God gave them to us. So even as a necessity, we must turn everything that we do into prayer. If there’s something we currently do that cannot be turned into prayer, then we need to stop doing it! Namely, we need to stop sinning.

 

Therefore, we turn from sin, and we strive to do what we are already doing with care, attention, deliberateness, and a spirit of prayerfulness. We then simply ask Jesus to do in us what we are doing, and in these acts ask Him to reorder all creation, past, present, and future, as if everything had been done in the Divine Will –  as God originally intended when He created the world.

 

Now I know this seems very weird when you first hear of it. I know that people ask “What does that even mean? Reordering creation through my acts? I get the whole praying while doing something; beyond that, though, it makes no sense…”

 

But if we ponder this a little deeper, it makes perfect sense. We know that we are made in the image of God primarily by way of our souls. And the three powers of the soul –  intellect, memory, and will –  have the true capacity for the infinite (although they are not themselves infinite), unlike our bodies which, though united to the soul as matter is united to form, often nevertheless fetter the powers of the soul.

 

Consider the intellect. It may not feel like it has a capacity for the infinite when you’re trying to figure out your new smartphone, but it does! To give one mundane example: so long as you understand the definition of a triangle, then there is no limit to the number of figures you could identify as triangular. Indeed, you could spend all eternity doing so! The memory, too, though feeling quite finite when you cannot recall the day of the week, can also exercise a capacity for the infinite. For all eternity you will be gaining new memories; all the while forgetting none! So too with the will. Whatever is willed is as if done before God; in the mere fact that it is truly willed. And when we give no life to the human will and instead live and act in God’s, we will with God’s own Divine Will, and this acquires a truly unlimited value.

 

Now, the Will is the greatest power of the soul; Jesus tells Luisa that everything is contained within it. So if we will — if we have the specific intention — of doing, in an act, far beyond what is achieved by the physical limitations of that act — then the Divine Will accomplishes it in truth.

 

Jesus tells Luisa that He made the Universe to contain man, but He made man to contain God. That’s one way He describes the Gift of Living in the Divine Will; that just as the soul is life principle of the body, God becomes the life principle of the soul when one Lives in the Divine Will.

 

And when this happens, human acts can become Divine Acts and acquire infinite and eternal qualities. So Jesus really means it when He asks us to reorder all creation, past, present, and future, with our Acts In His Will. Now let’s get a bit practical with how we do this. I’ll just share a couple things that I do.

 

Here is a part of a prayer that I pray each day after Mass, after receiving the Eucharist, before I go out and simply walk the streets in prayer as part of an apostolate I started called the Divine Will Missionaries of Mercy.

 

“Most Holy Trinity, You who now dwell inside my body in all of Your Divinity, nothing is beyond Your power. Therefore I come before You and say Fiat Voluntas Tua. I renounce my self-will, and instead desire only Your Will. As You have held nothing back from me, let me likewise hold nothing back from You.

 

Let the Transubstantiation of the Host within me effect the Transconsecration of my very self, that I may receive the Gift of Living in the Divine Will, so that Jesus may walk in my walking, speak in my speaking, pray in my praying, and indeed substitute His Divine and Eternal operations for all of my acts, and through me re-do all of the acts of Creation, past, present, and future — in the Will of God, offering them back to the Father with the seal of my Fiat, which I pray may become an echo of Jesus and Mary’s perfect Fiat.”

 

I then finish the rest of the prayer before the Tabernacle, and I go out to walk the poorest streets of the city and pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet; meditating on Our Lord’s Eucharistic Presence.  I pray for His Presence to be preserved within me, pouring out graces through me to all of the surrounding areas, and indeed throughout all the world and universe, past, present, and future – open as well to whatever opportunities Providence presents to proclaim the Divine Mercy. I have been doing this for the past three years (aiming for it to be daily, but often it is less frequent), and the fruits are utterly astonishing, to the point that they themselves prove to me that this grace of Living in the Divine Will – this grace of being transformed into a true Living Host – is not a fantasy, but rather, an undeniable reality.

 

But we aren’t supposed to Act in the Divine Will only when we are specifically reciting prayers; we always should, no matter what we’re doing.

 

Our house is a 100-year-old fixer upper that my wife and I bought three years ago, so I spend a lot of time doing manual labor on our home. I find manual labor to be particularly conducive to acting in the Divine Will. When I’m nailing a beam together, I implore God that in this nailing He will bind my will and the will of all to the Divine Will…. When I’m tearing down an old wall, I pray that in this demolition God will demolish the reign of the human will on Earth. I try to seal each of my acts with some sort of intention like that: nothing wordy, fancy, or poetic. Instead, I just offer a basic and simple expression of my intention to God.

 

One day when I was working on levelling my house and jacking up and lifting the parts that had sunk (houses tend to do that over a century, so much so that if I placed something on a counter in a room it would roll right off), I was listening to an audiobook of the Book of Heaven, which is actually what I almost always do when I’m doing manual labor or going on a long drive.

 

If memory serves, I was at a certain moment literally holding a box level on a surface to check whether I had reached an even level on the part of the house I was working on, praying that in my levelling of this house, Jesus would level the crooked human will, when Luisa’s words in the Book of Heaven came through my speakers saying this: “I just understood that in order for Jesus to operate in us, it takes highest equality in all things; otherwise He operates at one point of our soul, and we destroy at some other point. Unequal things are always annoying, defective; and if one wants to place something on them, there is the risk that the unequal side may let it fall to the ground.”

 

I took that as my little reminder from God to indeed continue striving to do all of my acts as Acts in the Divine Will to reorder all creation.

 

And God truly does desire that of all of us. Whatever you’re doing in life, as long as it’s not sinning, you can do it In the Divine Will. Whoever you are, no matter how lowly or how great, you can Live in the Divine Will and give God the greatest possible glory. No matter how much or how little you’ve done, you now have received the greatest invitation ever offered to creatures in the history of creation.

 

Living and Acting in God’s One Eternal Act. Living in the Divine Will.

 

If you aren’t utterly blown away by that, you simply haven’t thought about it.

 

Think about it. Pray about it. Act on it. Don’t let this be just another interesting thing you read about.