This page contains a selection of Teachings that Elizabeth Wang received from the Lord in prayer over many years. They are in chronological order. For other selections please see the main TEACHINGS page here.
Note about formatting:
[NB - the distinction between large and small capital letters has unfortunately been lost in the web version of the text]
LARGE CAPITAL LETTERS are used for the titles which indicate where Christ is introducing or re-introducing a particular subject into His long programme of instruction, as different subjects are more and more deeply woven together.
Normal type is used for Christ’s clear but soundless prayer-time instructions, here ‘translated’ into my own words.
Italic type is used for words which were ‘given’ to my soul by God: by Father, Son or Holy Spirit, although the words were not spoken.
‘Italic type with speech marks’ is used for words which were spoken to me by God: by Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, yet which were spoken only within my soul, during prayer.
SMALL CAPITAL LETTERS are used for the silent yet powerful teachings which I have received from God our Father. I have ‘clothed’ these vivid but soundless teachings in my own words - and have placed them at the centre of the page. Italic type has been inserted, wherever - in the same teaching - God’s own words have been received, either ‘given’ or spoken. (See above).
Bold type is used for teachings which were delivered with especial emphasis or especial glory.
PART FOUR CONTENTMENT
LOVE, IN A FIERY CIRCLE.
T:1548 #1 Understand how wonderful is the work you do whenever you turn to Me in sincere prayer and offer My praise to the Father. As you turn to Me, and as you let Me guide you, you are drawn - even here on earth - into Our ceaseless prayer: the prayer of Three Divine Persons, One Lord.
T:1548 #2 Consider the entire “in-one-moment” sequence which is prayer “in Christ”.
Consider the loving action of Myself, of your Heavenly Father and of My Holy Spirit, as We draw you into Our Work of Love. Your Heavenly Father is explaining:
LISTEN, MY CHILD:
WE THREE PERSONS ARE AT WORK IN EVERY ‘CHRISTIAN’ PRAYER.
AS YOU KNEEL IN PRAYER TODAY,
AND AS YOU LOOK TOWARDS THE TABERNACLE,
TOWARDS HIM WHO IS REALLY PRESENT - YOUR SAVIOUR,
YOU CAN ‘SEE’ A FIERY MOVEMENT, AROUND YOU, LIKE A WIND OR A FLAME:
A FIERY CIRCLE OF PRAYER WHICH IS IN MOTION
FOR AS LONG AS YOU CONTINUE IN WORSHIP AND PETITION.
THE TOP OF THAT FLAME OF PRAYER IS HIDDEN IN HEAVEN, ABOVE, WHERE
I AM.
YET BY THAT FIRE, DESCENDING, YOU ARE WRAPPED IN PRAYER;
AND WHEN YOUR HEART RESPONDS TO THAT TORCH, AND SENDS OUT LOVE,
TOWARDS CHRIST, IN THE TABERNACLE,
HE ‘CATCHES’ THAT FIERY BREATH
AND HURLS IT HEAVENWARD, TO ME, HIS FATHER.
HE HURLS LOVE, IN A FIERY ARC, UPWARDS TOWARDS HEAVEN,
WHERE IT ‘BEGAN’!
(WC:1548)
T:1548 #3 SO THIS IS THE MEANING OF THE IMAGE WHICH I HAVE SHOWN YOU:
THIS IS OUR LOVING ACTION, WHENEVER YOU PRAY IN THE NAME OF CHRIST:
I send my loving Spirit to your heart,
FROM HEAVEN;
THUS I, YOUR FATHER, ENABLE YOUR HEART TO PRAY.
Your heart is prompted to pour out the Spirit’s own Divine Love!
YOU POUR OUT THAT FIERY LOVE
towards Christ
WHO IS PRESENT IN THE TABERNACLE, BEFORE YOU;
and He who is always praising me, his father
- AND WHO PRAISES ME ON YOUR BEHALF -
SENDS TO ME A DIVINE PRAYER OF DELIGHT:
OF PRAISE, THANKS, REPARATION AND INTERCESSION;
AND INTO HIS PRAYER, HE WEAVES
- AS YOU KNEEL BEFORE HIM -
YOUR PRAISE, WITH YOUR THANKS, YOUR REPARATION AND PETITIONS.
THUS, THE CIRCLE IS COMPLETED:
THE FIERY AND FERVENT ‘CIRCLE’ OF PRAISE
WHICH IS THE PRAYER OF THE HOLY TRINITY, A PRAYER
in which you were included
BECAUSE OF YOUR FAITH, YOUR ‘LIFE-IN-CHRIST’ AND
YOUR OPEN-HEARTED LONGING TO PRAISE US.
T:1548 #4 BE JOYFUL!
THE ‘CIRCLE’ OF OUR PRAYER ON EARTH
- AS WE ACT THROUGH AND WITHIN YOUR SOUL -
IS LIKE OUR GLORIOUS PRAYER IN HEAVEN.
IT IS PURE AND PERPETUAL, WITHOUT END OR BEGINNING.
IT IS THE WORK OF THREE HOLY PERSONS.
IT IS OUR DIVINE ACTION, IN OUR UNITED AND LOVING COMMUNION.
ON EARTH, AS IN HEAVEN, OUR PRAYER IS HOLY.
REJOICE, THAT YOU TAKE PART!
A CHICK, BEING FED.
T:1549A #1 Never let embarrassment keep you from speaking frankly to Me in prayer. Whenever you reveal your shameful weaknesses to Me, you prove your trust, and enable Me to help you. Precisely because you reveal your weaknesses, you create a real ‘opening’ within your soul through which the Father can pour His spiritual nourishment.
T:1549A #2 See what power you have, in your ‘free-will’! Just as a chick cannot be fed unless it opens its beak, so - by My Will - I ‘cannot’ strengthen and feed you unless you admit your need. This is wisdom: to know your weaknesses and to reveal them, freely, to Me, your God and Redeemer.
T:1549B Obey My wishes. Don’t be afraid to distribute the booklets which you have just had printed, and thus to share My ‘teachings’ with others. There are certain things which are private, as you know; yet although it is good to ‘keep the secret of a King,’ it is right to ‘reveal and publish’ My works. I want you to share not only the doctrine which I have taught you in prayer - the same doctrine as that which is taught by My faithful Bishops - but also the ‘works of God’ in your own life. Share some of the details of your spiritual journey. This will enlighten and encourage others.
T:1550 #1 Be grateful for your faith, which impels you to bow your head reverently as you pray: ‘Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.’ Truly, it is that Spirit - My powerful and Holy Spirit - who has given you the gift of faith and Who inspires every word of sincere prayer that you utter. As if by His ‘wing’ - the gentle wing of a dove - He touches and enfolds you, as you are praying. (WC:1550)
T:1550 #2 Consider the proof that My Holy Spirit is at work within you: realise that it is only through the faith which He has given to you that you now pause to pray, and that you pray through Me to the Father. During your devout recital of the words of the “Our Father” and of the “Hail Mary”, your saying and believing in the statements contained in those prayers is due to My Spirit’s action and is a proof of His presence within your soul. You cannot utter a single good prayer without the prompting of My Spirit.
T:1550 #3 Be consoled by the knowledge that your sometimes desperate prayer for help and guidance - in times of danger when your faith seems weak - is a proof that My Holy Spirit is here within your soul. It is He Who inspires your longing to be faithful. It is He Who urges you to ask for My help!
T:1550 #4 Remind yourself, from time to time, that you need not “go out” from your soul, in order to pray. Even now, here, I am with you. My Spirit dwells within you, even in your weakness. His Divine presence is enlightening and inspiring even as feeble a soul as yours!
SOULS: HEALTHY OR ‘DISEASED’.
T:1551 #1 Continue to imitate My example of patience and obedience. Accept little humiliations patiently, for My sake.
T:1551 #2 Sacrifice your own will, for the sake of Charity. The sacrifices which you make out of love for Me - no matter how small they be - give Glory to the Father, when they are united to My Sacrifice. Listen to your Father, as He takes you to the ‘heart’ of the spiritual life:
I, YOUR FATHER,
LOOK WITH TENDER ADMIRATION
UPON ALL WHO - IN PRAYERS AND ACTIONS - RESEMBLE CHRIST
MY SON.
IN EVERY LIFE
RESEMBLANCE TO HIM IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT.
T:1551 #3 LOOK WITH TENDER LOVE AND PITY
UPON THOSE WHO HAVE PLAINLY TURNED AWAY FROM ME
AND FROM MY COMMANDMENTS.
YOU ARE RIGHT NOT TO JUDGE THEM.
YOU ARE RIGHT NOT TO DECIDE
THEIR DEGREE OF ‘BLAMEWORTHINESS’
NOR TO CLAIM TO KNOW THEIR MOTIVES.
THESE PEOPLE, HOWEVER, ARE AS DISFIGURED AND ‘DISEASED’
IN THEIR SOULS
AS OTHERS ARE DISEASED IN THEIR BODIES.
THEY ARE IN GREAT NEED OF HELP.
T:1551 #4 LOVE MY WILL, AT EVERY MOMENT.
IT IS WHEN SOMEONE LOVES MY WILL THAT SHE CAN SAY TO ME:
‘HERE IS MY SOUL IN PRAYER, ‘EMPTIED’ FOR YOU,
SO THAT YOUR GLORY CAN SHINE WITHIN’;
AND SHE CAN SAY, TOO, ABOUT HER DAILY ACTIVITIES: ‘HERE IS MY LIFE, EMPTY,
FOR YOUR WORK TO BE DONE WITHIN IT!’
MY WORKS, IN YOUR ‘CITY’.
T:1551 #5 ENCOURAGE OTHER PEOPLE TO SEE
THAT EACH ONE’S LIFE SHOULD STRETCH AHEAD LIKE AN EMPTY STREET,
IN WHICH MY ‘BUILDINGS’ - MY WORK - MIGHT BE BEGUN AND COMPLETED.
MANY THINGS ‘PREVENT’ ME
- SUCH IS MY RESPECT FOR YOUR FREEDOM -
FROM DOING GOOD WORK IN MANY LIVES.
PRIVATE AMBITIONS ARE A DANGER.
EVEN IN THE LIFE OF SOMEONE WITH GREAT FAITH,
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT CAN BE ‘BUILT’
WHEN THAT LIFE - LIKE A BUSY STREET - IS FULL OF HIS OWN PROPERTY,
FULL OF THE ‘BUILDINGS’
WHICH ARE HIS PERSONAL PLANS AND AMBITIONS.
MY WORK IS STOPPED, ALSO,
IF LARGE AREAS OF LIFE - LIKE A STREET - ARE ‘FENCED OFF’
BY ONE WHO IS DETERMINED
TO ACCOMPLISH HIS OWN PLANS.
I CANNOT ENTER.
(WC:1551)
T:1551 #6 CONSIDER HOW FOOLISH AND BLIND ARE THOSE WHO SHUN ME,
WHO REFUSE TO SACRIFICE THEIR OWN IDEAS,
WHO REFUSE TO CO-OPERATE WITH MY WORK.
IN THE ‘STREET’ WHICH IS HUMAN LIFE,
NO ONE CAN BUILD ANYTHING
WHICH WOULD EQUAL THAT WHICH I BUILD
- EQUAL IT IN ‘HEIGHT’, USEFULNESS AND BEAUTY -
WHERE I AM PERMITTED TO DO SO.
FURTHERMORE,
PREPARATION IS ESSENTIAL.
NOTHING CAN BE BUILT TO LAST
WHICH DOES NOT HAVE A FIRM, LEVEL FOUNDATION
LAID BY PRAYER AND CLEAR THINKING.
WHEN MY OWN WORKS HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED
IN THE LIFE OF A SAINTLY PERSON
- WHEN MY ‘BUILDINGS’ IN SAINTLY LIVES HAVE BEEN MADE VISIBLE -
THEY TOWER ABOVE ALL OTHER WORKS IN A CITY.
THESE WORKS ARE ASTONISHING IN THEIR SIGNIFICANCE AND BEAUTY.
T:1551 #7 REALISE THAT ACCEPTANCE OF MY WILL
EXTENDS NOT ONLY TO ACCEPTANCE OF A PARTICULAR TASK,
BUT ALSO TO A WILLINGNESS TO ALLOW ME TO CHOOSE
THE TIME OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT.
THE MOST GLORIOUS WORKS FOR ME
ARE THOSE WHICH I MYSELF ‘WORK’
IN THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO ARE CONTENT TO SEE NOTHING HAPPEN
UNTIL THE PRECISE MOMENT WHICH I HAVE CHOSEN FOR MY WORK TO BEGIN.
IT IS A WONDERFUL THING, WHEN SOMEONE DOES HIS OR HER DUTY,
YEAR AFTER YEAR,
AND DOES IT PATIENTLY AND JOYFULLY,
CONTENT WITH APPARENTLY INSIGNIFICANT WORK,
AND TRUSTING THAT I WILL DRAW UP GOOD RESULTS FROM IT
WHEN AND HOW AND WHERE I CHOOSE.
T:1552A #1 Follow My inspiration and offer your whole life to Me once more, with every moment of every day wholly dedicated to My Will.
T:1552A #2 Rejoice in your new beginning. Only through a willing self-giving to My Will and to My work do you and other friends of Mine permit Me to deliver each one of you from private ambitions, secret longings, secret scores to settle or ruthlessly-to-be-enacted plans. Listen to your Heavenly Father, Who is saying, of your renewed offering:
“This is freedom!”
When everything has been handed over to Me - your very life and your hopes, with the people you love, and with every dream and yearning - you can say that you are no longer ‘enslaved’ by any desires but the desire to please Me.
T:1552A #3 Remain watchful. Turn to Me at every moment. Even when you have surrendered your life wholly to Me, the fronds of temptation will still touch you, to draw you into deeper waters again, if you give your consent. Like underwater weeds, those ‘fronds’ can trap you, and so cause you to sin; they can draw you into deeper darkness.
T:1552B #1 Follow My inspiration and resolve to abandon the hesitation and fear which still cling to you.
T:1552B #2 Accept with simplicity the role and the path which I am inviting you to follow.
T:1552B #3 Do My work confidently and joyfully.
T:1552B #4 Go out to others with true love and simplicity, and with meekness and joy, not with coyness or hesitation. You know My wishes. You are aware of the gifts which I have given to you so that you can do My work; so don’t be bashful.
T:1552B #5 Have faith in My plans, and in My care of you!
T:1552B #6 Take comfort from the knowledge that many people before you have worked apparently alone, in order to obey My wishes. Only faith has assured them, too, that their work would eventually be used and would be useful. Very many, before you, have sat at their desks - just like you - pressing on with the work which I have entrusted to them.
T:1552B #7 Do My Will, for one minute at a time. Keep on with your writing. Follow the examples of St Teresa of Avila, and St Jerome, and persevere! (WC:1552B)
A STEADFAST FRIEND.
T:1553 #1 Follow My inspiration and search your heart. Show Me your weaknesses. How dearly I love to hear you confess these things to Me with such trust and simplicity. I cannot fail to reward you for your honesty.
T:1553 #2 Think about friendship and about love. What a steadfast Friend am I, always ready to forgive! See, therefore, what “love” means, in the Christian life: it is to be like Me, Who am Love.
T:1553 #3 Look towards Me, in prayer, and recognise the qualities in Me which are worthy of imitation. Whenever you approach Me, you find that I am unchanging. I love you with a steadfast Love. I am always welcoming and amiable. I am wholly forgiving, although - out of love for you - I also correct you. I speak the truth at all times, although this is sometimes painful for you; yet I speak with Love. I am always the same; I am dependable. I am predictable, not in what I will do, but in the sense that you can be sure of My ‘attitude’, each time that you turn towards Me, since I am always loving, and just. I am always delighted to listen to you! So what a wonderful thing it will be, if you take Me as your model, and imitate Me closely.
WORK AND GENDER.
T:1554 #1 Let Me clarify My wishes - about work and gender. You hesitated to speak forcefully to your friend; yet, truly, it is My wish that men and women recognise their complementary roles. Men and women in My Church are like weary people travelling together along a sure road which is narrow and crowded, yet which leads towards the Light of Heaven; and in Heaven - and unseen, at present - I await you all; and you can see, in prayer, that someone is elevated above the surging crowd of weary people. You can see a priest; he is sitting in a stone chair which is set on a plinth; he is hiding his face as he listens carefully to someone who whispers her secrets to him. But notice someone else who is engrossed in conversation: you can see a woman in the midst of the crowd, a woman who is not being swept along, but who is engaged in earnest conversation with the person beside her; and the meaning of this scene is that none of My friends arrives at his or her particular task ‘by accident’. I mean that people who have invited Me to work within their lives can be sure that the work which I give them to do is suited not only to their aptitudes but also to their gender. I give to men and woman very responsible work to do; yet the roles of men and women - though complementary - are different. (WC:1554)
PRIESTLY SOLITUDE AND ELEVATION.
T:1554 #2 Look at My priest, who sits alone
besides a crowded road,
as people make their way towards Heaven.
This is the reason for his solitude:
he listens to those who approach him.
With Christ-like tact, love and wisdom
- and by My Will -
he listens and judges, since I give to him
- as to certain other men who share My priesthood -
the task of Justice and Mercy.
From their special place within My Church,
as if beside the busy road,
My priests forgive sins, by My power,
and listen to the secrets of wounded hearts,
their own hearts burning, scorched by faith and grief.
True servants of those they serve,
those men sit apart, ‘enthroned’,
to do their good work: a work
both responsible and awesome;
and that is why, by My Will,
they have a special dignity and honour
in the eyes of My People.
Yet they are elevated, too,
for the sake of the people from afar
who search for My teachers, and
who need to find them, to receive their help.
My priests are fulfilling My wishes
if they stay close to their people:
if they await the humble ones
who wish to be reconciled.
My priests witness to Truth, yet
leave people free, entirely:
free to approach them, or to stay away;
and thereby, My priests are proving their love of those souls.
MOTHERS OF SOULS.
T:1554 #3 Next, consider My wisdom,
which causes Me to give to certain women
- to mothers or potential mothers,
whether ‘mothers’ in earthly or spiritual ways -
the priestly task
which suits the nature
with which I Myself have clothed them.
These women do their true work
of priestly care, yet do it in
womanly ways, in
intimate conversation,
domestic affection,
hard thinking and frank talk, yet
acting also as balm and salve
to wounded souls.
These women are at work
in the midst of the great throng of My People,
at work unnoticed
and apparently unrewarded:
kindly and caring amidst crowds,
amidst bustle and noise.
These women act with kindly authority,
sure of their role,
comforting struggling people, thus
helping their fellow-travellers
during the journey to Glory.
They do My work.
Good ‘mothers’ of souls, they urge souls
towards My priest, towards
the shepherd of souls
who sits at one side, towards
a weak man, but nevertheless towards
one who is chosen and strengthened and
- by My Will -
elevated and clothed in authority.
These faithful women who do My work
are ‘working’ upon souls
as true mothers,
ushering wounded people
to the place of healing,
to the place of the soul’s re-birth,
the place of Reconciliation, where
I, Christ, the Great Director,
forgive sins
- through My priest -
and thus prepare the souls of My People
for a further stage of the journey
- already begun -
and for the Goal, which is Heaven.
T:1554 #4 Encourage others, therefore, to ponder this question:
which of My sons or daughters
- searching for My Will, and wishing to please Me -
will scorn the duties
which, rightly, are associated
with gender?
Who will say to Me:
‘I dislike Your Will,’ or
‘You have made the wrong choice’, or
‘This is not the work I want’, or,
‘I am not suited to this role’, or,
‘Your grace is not enough for me’?
THE PROCESS OF CONVERSION.
T:1555 #1 Don’t sit in judgement on other people.
T:1555 #2 Don’t be surprised to hear strange opinions expressed even by a ‘convert’ of long-standing whose only wish is to please Me and to be faithful. In the heart and mind of someone who has not received a good and life-long ‘steering’, with assistance and formation in Catholic Christian teaching, certain wrong attitudes or emphases may still ‘push through the surface’ as lumps can show through the surface of a new piece of wallpaper. (WC:1555)
T:1555 #3 Realise that the process of conversion is not a simple ‘adding-to-belief’, although it is true that faith is a gift from Me, and is wholly accepted into the lives of many sincere converts. However, some ‘stripping’ or excavation of the soul is necessary so that faith might be built on a firm foundation; and that ‘stripping’ will consist of the uprooting and rejection of wrong beliefs and reflexes, amoral attitudes, unChristian opinions, and evil or uncharitable thoughts and habits.
T:1555 #4 Don’t imagine that the genuinely good things which many converts once learned in childhood need to be abandoned. The treasured and truly-Christian teaching which is given within certain communities can provide a firm base on which a convert gratefully builds, as he or she learns more about the fullness of the Catholic faith. Nevertheless, just as old layers of bumpy wallpaper ought to be carefully and thoroughly removed in a hallway which is due to be re-decorated - since no paper will cling firmly to a dirty or a bumpy surface - so the errors, weaknesses and bad habits of all imperfect souls will need to be removed, either in life or after death; no impure soul can perfectly reflect My goodness.
MY RADIANT PRESENCE.
T:1556 #1 Don’t allow the clear sight of your weaknesses to make you despondent. Rather, let the knowledge of My Love for you and of My friendship with you encourage you to be hopeful.
T:1556 #2 Treasure your faith. Rejoice that you have believed, during times of darkness, that which I am now showing you so clearly, as a special grace, in this Holy Communion: that I am Really Present here, loving you, ready to help and to console you!
T:1556 #3 Put your trust in Me, once more. Here I am, in our Holy Communion, glorious and majestic, My radiance dazzling you in your weakness; yet - as you can see - I am truly human. (WC:1556)
T:1556 #4 Don’t be afraid. I am like a gentle teacher who urges you to think carefully about something which can affect your attitude and behaviour; why should you worry about your numerous weaknesses, when I Who love you and help you - Christ, the Son of the Father - am infinitely powerful?
T:1556 #5 Turn towards Me, in prayer, as you witness My radiant Presence in Holy Communion, and as you see Heaven’s Light streaming through Me as if from a distant Source. Ponder My two-fold nature; I, Christ your Saviour, am really man, risen and alive and now Present before you; yet though true man, I am also truly Divine, radiant with the majesty of My Divine nature. I invite you to ponder My ‘Origin’, since the Divine Light which you see pouring upon you - through Me, the Son of God, in the power of My Spirit - is the Divine Light of the Invisible Father. (WC:1556)
T:1556 #6 See what hope and joy are yours, through the gift of faith, which I offered to you long ago and which you accepted. Through the marvel of your joyful faith, you can worship Me, your loving and Divine Saviour, Who have revealed so much to mankind about the Father’s Will and the Father’s nature; and through My Communion with you, I have drawn you into Our Life and friendship; you can live in hope that Our Love will transform you and make you fit for Heaven - all your weaknesses banished.
T:1556 #7 Be ever-grateful for the gift of faith. Only because of your union with Me - the risen and glorious Son Who has revealed so much about your Heavenly Father - do you worship in incomparable light, peace and hope. Be ever-grateful that because of what I have shown you through My Incarnation, you know that you do not serve a God Who is wholly remote, incomprehensible and terrifying. Through Me, you have seen that Our nature is Love; and that Love is with you, embodied, whenever you receive the Sacred Host, and so receive Me in Holy Communion!
EVERY ‘BREATH’ OF PRAYER.
T:1557 #1 Understand the value of prayer. Never doubt the value even of very brief but sincere intercessions. Every little prayer is valuable. Every single prayer made “in Christ” benefits other people. By way of illustration, consider the efforts which some people make to prepare a ‘hot-air’ balloon so that it will ascend into the sky, and will draw them upwards in a basket. They pump gas into their huge balloon; and every ‘breath’ of gas inflates the balloon a little more, and helps to make flight possible. So it is with you, and your intercessions, of which even the tiniest contributes to a ‘raising’ of other people towards Me, and towards Heaven! (WC:1557)
T:1557 #2 Don’t forget that your sincere prayers benefit your own soul, as you pray, as well as the souls of the people for whom you are praying!
Every little prayer to your Heavenly Father
is a good act.
He cannot fail to reward it.
Every little prayer
does good to your soul,
keeps your soul active,
enlarges your soul:
increases its capacity for Charity,
causes your soul to be filled
with My grace and power,
produces - by My grace - present or future help
for other people, and
prepares your soul for true ‘flight’:
which is union with Me
in contemplation.
Every little prayer
brings your soul closer to Heaven.
GOOD HEARTS AND GOOD CHOICES.
T:1558 #1 Admire whatever is good in the lives of other people, even in the lives of those who don’t know Me. I am at work even in the hearts and lives of certain people who have never heard of Me. Those who freely choose to do good and who follow what is right - often at some cost - are being drawn by My Spirit towards Me, even if they don’t realise it.
T:1558 #2 Recall the time when you were a child, and your teacher showed you how a powerful magnet could draw towards itself thousands of iron filings. You saw them streaming across a huge expanse of white paper; they were responding to the magnet’s invisible power. So it is with people who don’t know Me, yet who listen attentively to conscience and who also bravely make movements towards what is good. I Who am good am drawing them towards Myself, by the power of My Spirit, even if they don’t realise it. (WC:1558)
T:1558 #3 Do all in your power to bring the Good News of My Love - in its fullness - to others. Yet realise that anyone who freely chooses to support something which is genuinely good is ‘aligning’ himself with Goodness, by which I mean aligning his will with My Will. Such a person can be regarded as one of My friends, even if he doesn’t yet know Me.
A CONTAINER FOR PURE WATER.
T:1559 #1 Be grateful that you can express your sorrow for the moments when you have failed to do My Will. It is precisely because you are contrite, and because you have surrendered your private ambitions, that I can work so freely within your life, and can draw you ever-closer to your Heavenly Father.
T:1559 #2 Don’t allow contrition to lead you to despondency. You feel frail and faint-hearted; you are sometimes tempted to feel as ‘useless’ as an old tin can thrown down at a kerb-side! But think about the way in which I can use even an ‘old tin’ for My work: whenever you voluntarily open your heart to me, it is as though you are allowing the ‘lid’ to be removed! And when you spend your time, talents and energy in doing My Will, out of love for Me, you become as ‘empty’ as an old tin which has been emptied; and it is precisely because your soul is ‘empty’ that I can fill it with My Divine Life and Divine gifts, just as surely as one can fill an empty tin with pure water so that people can drink it.
T:1559 #3 Be happy to see yourself as a simple and ordinary container for the pure ‘water’ that I wish to share with others. My ‘water’ - by which I mean My wisdom - never ceases to flow from My Heart and Mind towards My creatures; and it is because of your repentance and your penances that My grace can now pour continually upon others, for as long as I wish, from within your soul’s sacrificial ‘emptiness’.
EVERYDAY WORK AND WORSHIP.
T:1560 #1 Believe that your prayers are heard. When you begged My holy Angel, this morning, to assist My priest, at a time of special need, he did so.
T:1560 #2 See how majestic are the Angels who serve Me in the Sanctuary; they are reverent and obedient, awesome and holy. Of the many Angels who are present, one is here to guard the altar and one is here to guard My priest. My priest’s own guardian Angel - you can see - is tall and beautiful. He is as lovely as a shape in firelight because the golden light of Heaven is gleaming upon his head and wings. You are right to revere him, to trust in him and to ask that he will help My priest. (WC:1560)
T:1561 Be bold in prayer, though without any lack of reverence. I mean that you should be confident in prayer, since I, Jesus, am here amongst you during the Holy Mass. You are present to My Holy Sacrifice of Calvary. All that I asked of the Father, then, for mankind, I am asking now - here - in your presence; and since you are willing to unite your pleas with the pleas of Me your Intercessor, you should ask boldly for anything that will bring you and others even closer to the Father and closer to Heaven. (WC:1561)
T:1562 Ponder the meaning of love: and so remind yourself that I Who love you am neither changeable nor miserly; it is your own heart’s lingering fears, with your lack of confidence, which lead you still - on rare occasions - to approach Me timidly, with fearful and ‘wary’ offerings. Banish your fears. Remind yourself that through humility, contrition and self-offering, you have allowed Me to draw you into an intimate friendship. In such a relationship with a generous and loving Saviour, fear should play no part.
T:1563 #1 Trust Me! In all your resting, praying and working, put your trust in Me. I don’t ask you to do more than you can really manage. True, loving intimacy with Me should involve no anxiety or silly straining; on the contrary, I ‘lift’ you - wrapped in My peace - into My own blissful prayer before the Invisible Father.
T:1563 #2 Work joyfully. When you are working hard because of your love for Me, there is no cause for worry, since I hold the results of every scrap of your work within My plan. Whatever you achieve will be as if ‘woven’ into my Providential acts and opportunities.
THE EXAMPLE OF MY APOSTLES.
T:1563 #3 Imitate My holy Apostles. Like them - and despite your frailty - you realise that you are a true friend of Mine; so you, too, can be carefree and trusting. You too can speak out bravely about our friendship; and you too can make One prayer with Me, before the Invisible Father, as you make confident intercessions.
T:1564 #1 Think about how I approach you in Holy Communion. I ‘arrive’ within your soul quietly, not making demands, but inviting you - as I invite others - to friendship; and I do this because of My very nature, which is Love.
T:1564 #2 Imitate Me, in your dealings with other people. When you approach others, do so gently and quietly, inviting friendship. This is better than staying at a distance because of selfishness or cowardice, and better, too, than being over-eager in your approach or being anxious to impress.
T:1565 Continue to unite your prayers with Mine, during My Holy Sacrifice. In your presence, I am offering to the Father My praise of Him, My thanksgiving for all that is good, My reparation for sins and My pleas for mankind; and those who accept unavoidable suffering most patiently are the most fully united with My Sacrifice on behalf of mankind: with My Infinite and Divine reparation.
T:1566 #1 Persevere in your efforts to bring this precious person into full Communion. Be more confident! Truly “you draw him” towards Me and towards My Church, already. You do so by your prayers, and also by your acts of loving-kindness.
T:1566 #2 Be grateful and joyful that I permit you, and others, to join in My work; and remember: My work is successful! So there is no need for you to be despondent, if you are striving to do My Will.
T:1566 #3 Imitate My holy Mother’s attitude towards her work and towards My wishes. During her life on earth, My Mother loved Me and My Will from the first moment of choice; and her choice was immediate, unhesitating, unceasing and eternal.
T:1566 #4 Continue, as now, to offer praise for the virtues of My holy Mother. Even now, in Heaven, I am rewarding her for her love and for her virtues. She deserves and receives great honour, here in Heaven’s Glory.
THE SOUL’S JOURNEY.
T:1567 #1 Believe that you have been moving closer to Me, through your acts of contrition and humility. It is just as though you have been hauling yourself closer to Me by pulling yourself slowly along a rope; or it is as though a handrail was placed beside you, to guide you from repentance - at one ‘end’ of the spiritual life - to union, at the other ‘end’.
T:1567 #2 Cast your mind back through the various stages of your soul’s journey towards union. If we examine those stages together, it will help you to describe them for other people.
Examine your progression
from repentance to union.
Only through repentance
were you enabled to see clearly, at last:
to see spiritual things, and to see
life’s purpose and life’s choices.
In that repentance
- true sorrow for sin -
you looked in My direction, contrite;
you spoke of your sin and sorrow;
you expressed contrition, and therefore
you opened your eyes to Truth:
you recognised the truth: seeing clearly
your sinfulness, and My goodness; and when
the ‘eye’ of your soul was opened,
you saw My Glory, revealed.
Your clear-sighted, contrite soul began the journey:
the long walk towards Heaven, with
your Help and Guide, at last, the Living Truth:
Myself, the Son of God: Jesus.
T:1567 #3 Don’t be afraid to reproduce the images which I give to your soul during prayer. You hesitate to show this sight: a soul falling away from Me into infinite darkness. Yet how much better it is that someone should be mildly distressed now, yet be prompted by this simple image to think about sin and its consequences, than that he should have to experience the reality.
T:1568A Remain faithful. That which you believe is true; I am Really Present before you, after the Consecration. I am here at the altar. I am like a lamp, glowing here amongst you. I am ready to enlighten hearts which open themselves to welcome Me!
T:1568B Be courageous and faithful, as you continue with your work. I assure you that, through these ‘Teachings-in-prayer’, I shall renew My Holy Church, and shall bring especial delight to the hearts of My faithful People in England.
OUR PRAYERFUL UNION.
T:1569A Remember what a privilege is yours: that you can unite your sufferings to Mine, in our prayerful union. Truly, the prayers of the sick and suffering are like powerful engines within the heart of this great white ‘ship’ which is My Holy Catholic Church; it is as though My sick but faithful children are at work in a dark place far below the deck on which others travel who enjoy a sense of purpose and even of success. Your sacrifices and prayers - united with Mine - are the power by which My Church is driven forward and is helped to do her work of saving souls. (WC:1569A)
T:1569B Pray to your Heavenly Father. Always pray in My Name: the Name of Jesus. When you do so, it is as though you are standing side-by-side with Me; I hold up My hands to Heaven, and a channel opens above us. It is as though this channel reaches from earth to Heaven; Heaven is laid open for us, and the Father welcomes our prayer; and My Saints and My holy Angels greet us as their friends. Such is the power of every prayer which is prayed “in Christ”. (WC:1569B)
T:1570 #1 Look upon your sincere prayers as a very worthwhile activity. Don’t be worried because you are sometimes a little bit hurried or absent-minded. It is your sincerity of heart which is important.
T:1570 #2 Believe that I treasure your prayers; for example, I am pleased whenever you pray ‘the Creed’ sincerely, as when you began ‘the Rosary’ just now, at home. Your Heavenly Father is delighted to respond to your fervent prayer. See what He now teaches you about faith and about single-minded persistence:
HERE I AM
FAR ABOVE YOU.
THE DOOR TO HEAVEN IS OPEN.
YOUR FERVENT PRAYER DELIGHTS ME.
By a sincere act of faith
IN ME
YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
- FAITH IN MY EXISTENCE AND IN MY GOODNESS,
AND IN MY SON, JESUS, WHO CAME TO EARTH
TO SAVE YOU -
you send up to Heaven a triumphant cry,
- a cry of hope, love, fervour and determination
and defiance of evil -
from a darkened world.
YOU CALL OUT
AS IF FROM A DARK, PITTED LANDSCAPE,
A FILTHY BATTLEFIELD
WHERE, HERE AND THERE, A VOICE ARISES.
HERE AND THERE, A LONE ‘WARRIOR’
- A SOLDIER OF CHRIST -
WHO BELIEVES IN CHRIST HIS SAVIOUR
AND IN THE POWER OF PRAYER
CALLS OUT TO HIS FRIENDS:
“OUR CAUSE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR,
AS WE FIGHT AGAINST SIN!
OUR HERO IS WORTH DYING FOR,
IN OUR ‘DYING TO SELF’, DAILY,
IN ORDER TO SERVE HIM.’
T:1570 #3 CONSIDER THE DARKNESS WHICH IS EARTHLY LIFE.
COMPARE IT
WITH THE RADIANCE NOW UNVEILED BEFORE YOU,
AS I OFFER YOU A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN’S GLORY.
SEE HOW POWERFUL IS YOUR PRAYER
“IN CHRIST”,
A PRAYER WHICH - THROUGH MY WILL - HAS OPENED HEAVEN’S DOOR.
A FERVENT ACT OF FAITH
IS LIKE A LIGHT SHINING IN EARTH’S DARKNESS.
IT PLEASES ME.
IT GIVES JOY TO MY SAINTS AND MY HOLY ANGELS.
IT STRENGTHENS YOUR OWN SPIRIT.
IT ENCOURAGES OTHER PEOPLE IN THEIR FAITH.
IT DRAWS UPON YOU A GREAT REWARD.
EVEN SILENT ACTS OF FAITH
ARE VALUABLE
SINCE, THROUGH THEM, THE WHOLE CHURCH IS MADE STRONGER.
(WC:1570A + 1570B)
T:1571 Never grow tired of uniting your heart’s desires with My intentions, during My Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. One who most closely resembles Me in humility, in love for the Father and in total self-offering, shares most perfectly in the Offering which I make in your midst: shares most perfectly in My Sacrificial prayer.
T:1572 Continue to pray for your friend who was sick. Accept this assurance from your Heavenly Father, about her:
“She is with Me.”
Your spiritual sister has not been lost. She is safe, forever. She has died, and has come to Us. She rests in Our care, even though it’s as if she is ‘hidden’ for a time, as she undergoes her purification, in Purgatory.
T:1573 Realise how beneficial for your own soul are your devotions here in church, on this “Good Friday” - or on any day - as you sorrow over My Sacred Passion. This is one of the laws of the spiritual life: that I cannot fail to refresh one who has comforted Me in My Passion or who has suffered in order to do My Will in daily life.
T:1574 #1 Delight in your closeness to Heaven’s Holy Company, as you celebrate this first Mass of Easter! My holy Mother is with you; she is listening to the praises which you offer to Me, her Risen and Divine son. (WC:1574A)
T:1574 #2 Let Me confirm you in your faith; here I am, standing before you as My priest elevates the Sacred Host at this Easter celebration. Truly, I am risen from the dead; I am with you, during the Holy Sacrifice. With My holy Mother, I am alive and glorious. (WC:1574B)
T:1574 #3 Hope that you too will one day share in our Glory. To be glorified and to be in Heaven is to be majestic, radiant and powerful, and perfect in every way.
T:1574 #4 Persevere in loving service. I reward with tremendous Glory - in Heaven - those who are humble and faithful. Consider the Glory now surrounding this holy woman who once lived so quietly and simply during her life on earth: a woman who was scarcely noticed: My own Mother!
T:1575A #1 Don’t be upset by your little weaknesses, as you try to do My Will by sharing My teachings. I assure you that your faith is being fulfilled in your life through good works, even if you yourself cannot see much evidence. It is just as though your weaknesses form a ‘muddy area’ in the ‘garden’ of your life. However, strong and narrow and beautiful new blades of grass - which are your good works - are pushing their way upwards through the mud; they are reaching out towards the Light, and are growing taller, daily. (WC:1575)
T:1575A #2 Realise that My work is not hindered by your frailty. My work in your life is progressing; and My work will be successful. Your little faults don’t prevent the ‘growth’ of My plan for your life; and I shall permit you to make Me known to others, despite your fears and hesitations.
TRUE UNION.
T:1575B #1 Consider how powerfully I can work through someone who is weak, but trusting. I can do nothing through one who puts his trust in himself. True union with Me, and true intimacy in prayer, and therefore truly effective work depend, in the end, on the soul’s total self-giving. So what a marvellous thing you do, whenever you bravely reveal your real weaknesses to Me in prayer, and so allow us to grow even closer.
T:1575B #2 Recognise the simple truth that real intimacy between Myself - your God - and yourself depends upon your degree of trust in Me. Just as a married couple who choose to show a bodily expression of their love only express a true union by being generous and whole-hearted in their self-offering, with no barriers keeping them apart, so, real intimacy with Me in prayer springs from a generous revealing of ‘self’ to Me, no matter how imperfect be that ‘self’. I delight in an honest revelation of your true thoughts! I show only tenderness towards you amidst your weaknesses.
T:1575B #3 Consider how great is My respect for your free-will, and how astonishing are the implications of that fact. Since I don’t compel you to love Me, it is as if I, your God, wait for ‘permission’ to embrace and to change you. Only by your true self-revelation and self-offering in prayer am I ‘enabled’ to share My Life with you. By your trusting approach to Me in prayer, it is as though you have said: “Here I am, as I am. Draw me closer to You.” Therefore, I ‘respond’ to your invitation.
T:1576A #1 Turn to Me ever more frequently, just as you do already, showing Me all your faults and your problems, and being ruthlessly honest, in prayer. By such trust and simplicity, your soul has received greater graces than if you had remained as though ‘hidden’ from Me by embarrassment, cowardice, fear, pride or laziness; and My graces are powerfully effective.
T:1576B #2 Value every moment of prayer. A great waterfall of grace is poured down from Heaven upon everyone who prays sincere prayers to the Father in My Name: the Name of Jesus. (WC + OIL:1576)
T:1576B #3 Banish from your prayer those things which can hold Me at a distance, for example: foolish attitudes, poses or pretences, or pious-sounding but insincere phrases. Whenever you hide behind such things, you are like someone who stands beneath My ‘waterfall’ of graces clad in heavy garments which a sensible person would have removed. But when you are bravely and ruthlessly frank with Me in prayer - yet respecting My majesty - your soul is uncovered, therefore, to be in contact with the ‘water’ of My grace; your soul is refreshed or washed clean; and thus consoled, you begin again to act with joy and simplicity.
T:1576B #4 Consider the meaning of true friendship, as revealed by My Presence with you in Holy Communion. How marvellous are these simple truths: that I visit you, that you trust Me, that I know all your faults, yet that - as you realise at last - I love you tremendously, just as you are!
A SACRED WAY.
T:1577 #1 Don’t be upset by every new occasion of repentance. My Providence is at work in your life, amidst all your weaknesses; and this was true, also, of the time when you lived in apparent spiritual darkness.
T:1577 #2 Accept My assurance that everyone who works faithfully for Me in apparent darkness is nevertheless helping to build the smooth ‘Highway’ which is My Way to Heaven: the Sacred Way. Just as a labourer might toil on earth for several years in a dark cluttered place, unable to see the extraordinary structure which soars above the building site, so My faithful friends are for long periods unable to see any results from their labour. Yet their work is fruitful; and just as the workman eventually gazes round him in astonishment, when he sees a great shining road - which he helped to build - passing above his head, a road supported on huge pillars, so do My friends discover, in the end, that they have been successful in building a road: a ‘Sacred Way’ to Heaven; and that Way is not just for the benefit of these friends who have worked hard and have struggled to be faithful. They will draw many other people onto it, by their prayers and sacrifices. (WC:1577A and B)
T:1578A Be simple, as you hope to share the knowledge of My Love with others. Listen to your Heavenly Father, Who is saying:
“Be like Christ!”
It is the Father’s Will that each one of you grows in resemblance to Me; and you will make Me known to others very effectively if you show out My virtues: if you resemble Me in simplicity, kindness, courage, gentleness and persistence.
FAITH OPENS A DOOR.
T:1578B #1 Believe that your acts of faith in My Love for you are beneficial. Every act of faith brings great advances in the spiritual life. It is as though faith opens a door within the cavern which is your soul’s shadowy interior; and when you freely lift the latch of that ‘door’ - a door which can only be opened from your ‘side’, since I have such respect for your ‘privacy’ - I can let My beautiful Light shine within your soul! (WC + OIL:1578B)
T:1578B #2 Remind yourself, and others, of the importance of faith. You are free to imprison yourselves within your own souls; or you can freely choose - through prayer - to lift the ‘latch’ of the door within your soul, a door which opens only from your ‘side’.
What power is yours, in your freedom.
You are free to keep Me at a distance:
free to ignore your Creator!
Faith opens a door within your soul, but
few people pray with real faith.
Consider the degrees of doubt.
Without faith, people don’t kneel to pray to Me;
or if they pray, but pray without much faith,
they have little hope that I am listening.
They don’t notice the ‘door’ within the soul:
the door through which I might have poured
My consoling Love and My Light.
Many people hope for help.
They look within their souls, in prayer.
They see the door to Light.
They pound on the door, impatiently,
yet will not pause for sufficient time
to lift the latch, and to greet Me.
So brief is their moment of expectation
- of hurried, untrusting prayer -
that the door is locked, they claim, or
I do not exist: they say, concluding
that prayer is a foolish occupation.
Seeing nothing but darkness, within,
they cease to enter their souls.
Some, with weak faith, believe
that prayer ‘works’ for other people
but not for them, as though
the soul’s ‘door’ to Light opens only on a whim;
Some, who are angry or resentful,
peer through the doorway
believing only
that I am hiding My face, that I am
silent, to no purpose, except
caprice.
T:1578B #3 Remember, and remind others:
the door of the soul opens by faith, and yet
that is only the start
of the soul’s journey.
Faith opens the door, but
hope draws the spirit forward, and
love can keep the ‘door’ open evermore!
A CONFIDENT GLANCE.
T:1579 #1 Reveal to Me all of your weaknesses, pains and problems. But don’t postpone for very long your confident glance towards Heaven, where I am waiting in Glory, ready to greet you, cherishing you, and welcoming you in prayer.
T:1579 #2 Beware of letting discouragement pull you down. “Lift up your eyes” to where I greet you from Heaven. Let Me draw you away from all that keeps your heart and vision “low” and weary.
T:1580 Take heart from thinking of the holy Companions who surround you as you pray. Whenever you come here, to pray before Me in the Blessed Sacrament chapel, you place yourself amongst My holy Angels. In this darkened, almost empty church, many holy Angels are standing motionless - like tall, gleaming spears of Light - facing the tabernacle, in silent adoration. (WC:1580)
T:1581 #1 Treasure the gift of prayer. What a marvel is prayer: whether in church or at home, in health or in sickness.
T:1581 #2 Look upon the world through My eyes, and see what I see: how ‘upside-down’ is the worldly society in which most people live. How precious to Me are all the people whom I have made; but how great is the esteem and affection with which My Saints and I look upon those who serve Me faithfully even when they are poor or inarticulate, or sick, or powerless, or despised in the world: treated as people of no importance.
T:1581 #3 Notice how My true friends prefer to be unknown or forgotten. Whoever truly loves Me would rather be a poor workman than a Prime Minister - unless I have called such a friend, perhaps, to do an especially responsible and ‘public’ task for Me.
T:1582 #1 Examine your soul, in prayer. You have just asked that I give you greater faith in Me, and in My presence within your soul. But “Have I not done so already?!” It is only through the prompting of My Holy Spirit that your soul is now yearning to come even closer to Me, in our union of love and prayer. So you can be sure that I am helping you already.
T:1582 #2 Let the knowledge of My Spirit’s work within your soul cause you to pray with great confidence, and to do so peacefully. Believe in My Love for you, and in My loving attention to the words you speak, and to the need which you haven’t yet described to Me.
SECURE IN MY LOVE.
T:1583A Take heart from seeing how contented are the Holy Souls whom you assist by your prayers. It is true that when faithful people die they discover how great a cause for sorrow is ingratitude to Me, Who have lavished so many gifts upon them during their earthly lives. It is true that they know and understand clearly, at last, just Whom they have wronged by their sins: Myself, their Creator and Saviour; that is why - after death - they accept their purification gladly. Yet they enjoy great peace during that purification, since they know that they are safe with Me forever! Even during their sufferings, and even though the fullness of My Glory is hidden from their sight, they know themselves to be secure forever in My Love. (WC:1583A)
T:1583B #1 Don’t imagine that your prayers on behalf of this friend who has died are persuading a moody ‘judge’ to reduce a harsh sentence. It is true that your prayers are ‘effective’, since you ask the Father, in My Name, to assist her, and therefore He does so, even if in ways unknown to you. Yet a friend who loves Me and who has died “in Christ” is not kept forcibly from the presence of her Heavenly Father. Of her own free will, a good but imperfect soul will not enter Heaven, since shame and sorrow are at work within her, making the sight of her God unendurable. That is why I permit every such soul to rest for a while in darkness.
T:1583B #2 Understand something more about My merciful nature. It is true that I am inviting your faithful friend to emerge from her purification; it is as though she has risen upwards from the depths of a great chasm, and, even now, is level with the top of the cliff. She can see that I am inviting her to step onto the ‘edge’ of Heaven, and to walk towards Me, Who am ready to welcome her into Glory. Yet her head is bent; her face is buried in her arm, as she shades her eyes from My radiance. You can see that it is only some remnant of pride in your friend’s heart that keeps her from My embrace. I am poised to greet her; yet I don’t overwhelm her by My Glory, since she still feels remorse at her past lack of love in My service. She is overcome with shame, still, as she glances towards Me. You can be sure that anyone who really loves Me and who - repentant - has been thoroughly purified, leaps joyfully into My presence, thrilled by My Love and sure of My forgiveness! (WC + OIL:1583B)
PRIESTS, ENTERING HEAVEN.
T:1584 Continue to pray for My priests: for those who serve you on earth, and for those who have died. What a wonderful moment it is, when faithful priests enter Heaven! You can see that the three priests for whom you have prayed are now walking towards My Heavenly throne. They are walking along a path which is lined with joyful people. These priests - each of whom is wearing a golden chasuble - are being given a tremendous greeting by their friends, the Saints, since My priests enter Heaven in a special way; they are welcomed as “other Christs.” They are accorded special honour and glory at the end of their earthly, priestly service. (WC + OIL:1584)
MUDDIED WATERS.
T:1585 #1 Don’t worry about your struggles to remain attentive and prayerful this morning, amidst a great deal of pain and turmoil. During your life on earth, you need not expect your mind and heart to be perpetually crystal-clear and calm! Normal human reactions to certain things do of course cause ‘normal’ disturbances. Even when you have a clear conscience, and are doing all that you can to be loyal and generous as you live in obedience to Me, your heart and mind sometimes resemble a clear pool which has become a little bit ‘clouded’ because of hard work or aggressive attacks by others, or by the turmoil of travel or of illness. So I am gazing at you with affection, saying: “What muddied waters, Lizzie”, yet expressing only sympathy for your efforts to remain calm and single-minded! There is no cause for alarm.
T:1585 #2 Make every effort to serve Me faithfully, whatever the ‘climate’ within your soul. The best, continued service is given through your repeated acts of love, trust and humility.
T:1586 #1 Look to Me, your Saviour, for the best example of humility. Look upwards, in prayer, to where I hang on the Cross, in agony, bearing this torment because of My great Love for you. What an example: that I, your God, once stooped to live amongst you and to bear brutality and shame, on Calvary, in order to save you! (WC:1586)
T:1586 #2 Help other people to realise how shameful is their grumbling and dissatisfaction in My service. Have they the right to complain of their trials, when I your God have descended from power and Glory, to save you? I have shown you all how to bear pain and humiliation. I have set an example of patience, charity and forgiveness. Through My grace you can change your hearts and imitate My behaviour. (WC:1586)
T:1587 Don’t imagine that your prayer is “unsuccessful” just because a faithful departed friend still remains in Purgatory. I am at work in her soul, as I am at work in the souls of all who have died “in Christ” yet who even then - after death - are in need of purification. Without this preparation, these souls cannot enter Heaven; and certain souls need much more purification than others. Just as someone on earth who has been badly wounded might need radical surgery before he can participate again in ‘normal’ life or activities, so - in a similar way and after death - a damaged soul might need to undergo painful change, with much ‘stripping’ or alteration, before he is fully prepared to enjoy the perfection of Heaven.
MY ASCENSION.
T:1588 #1 Turn your mind to the thousands of your spiritual brothers and sisters upon earth who are even now being drawn closer to Heaven. It is only through the work of Salvation which I accomplished on earth that you can live in hope of reaching Heaven; and you are right to thank Me for what I have done for you all.
T:1588 #2 Understand the implications of My glorious Ascension into Heaven: the event which you are celebrating today, with such joy:
My work on earth was successful;
and at the right time,
it was as though My Father in Heaven
opened Heaven’s door, to greet Me,
His risen, ascended Son;
and I looked at the face of My Father
and drew His attention
to many thousands of brothers and sisters, all
thronging about Me, their Christ:
My humanity our bond,
My saving work on earth their cause for hope, and
their faith in Me rewarded.
T:1588 #3 Share the Good News.
This is My message to the whole human race:
I am longing to save you!
I am longing to see my real brothers and sisters
enter the Glory which I now enjoy; yet
only because of Me has the ‘door’ to Heaven opened.
Only because of My return to the Father
- making a Way, opening a pathway -
have I given hope to you who love Me,
to you who shelter beneath My outstretched arm:
to you who cling to Me, the God-Man,
Who died to save you.
Only those who know Me and who follow Me
- your Divine Saviour yet real brother -
can walk the pathway to Heaven,
the pathway made ready
through My Passion and My Triumph.
(WC + OIL:1588)
A TORRENT OF GRACE.
T:1589 Remain faithful to your practice of greeting Me whenever My priest lifts up the Sacred Host before you. You are right to make an act of faith in My Presence. Your Heavenly Father is pouring a brilliant torrent of grace upon you, My People, through My Presence at the Consecration, and through My Holy Sacrifice - by which you have been reconciled to Him. (WC:1589)
T:1590 #1 Rejoice that you have followed My promptings, which led you to offer to your Heavenly Father all of your heart’s hopes and longings - united to the desires of My Heart - as I offer My Holy Sacrifice. One who prays with Me before the Father and who prays as if with ‘empty arms’, that is, entirely free from selfish or private dreams or ambitions, is therefore able to offer My Sacrifice to the Father most perfectly.
T:1590 #2 See how simple is this truth: that one who is free of ambition is thus free to grasp and to offer to the Father the wealth of My virtues and the fullness of My Glory!
T:1590 #3 Turn to Me for help in freeing yourself in yet another way; let Me free you from the hesitations, regrets and backward glances which sometimes slow your journey as you try to love and serve Me wholeheartedly.
T:1591 #1 Have faith that your spiritual Communion is worthwhile. Whenever you make a spiritual Communion - after an act of contrition, with an expression of your longing to receive Me, and an act of faith in My presence - you are truly united to Me: your Lord and God.
T:1591 #2 Ponder the marvel of your sharing in Our Divine Life: the Life of the Holy Trinity! Whenever you pray before the Father, in union with Me your Saviour, you can be sure that the Most Holy Spirit - Who is swooping towards you, as if like a dove which is dazzlingly beautiful - is also present and is ‘at work’, since We three Divine Persons cannot be separated. We are One God: Triune and undivided; and you who live and pray within Our embrace, influenced and changed by Our grace, are therefore enabled to make a sincere act of surrender to Our Holy Will at every moment. (WC:1591)
CLOSER TO MARY.
T:1592 #1 Notice the connection between your recent act of dedication to My holy Mother, and the sudden deluge of graces which has been poured upon you, as these particular prayers have been granted. One who entrusts herself to My Mother - whether through a hallowed means of special dedication or through a simple prayer - is never left unrewarded for that act of faith and devotion.
T:1592 #2 Follow My inspiration and make a fervent confession of your sins.
T:1592 #3 Be determined to root out every fault, and thus to please Me, and also to become more worthy of the task which I have set before you. It is when you make such humble and fervent efforts that you permit Me to draw very close to you in prayer, and to fill your heart with a clearer knowledge of My holiness.
PERPETUAL INTIMACY.
T:1592 #4 Ponder the marvel which is friendship with Us: with the Most Holy Trinity, your God. See what is happening, even at the end of your spiritual journey, as you persevere in love, and confess your sins, in a new, true beginning, in Our service. Listen to your Heavenly Father, who tells you:
REJOICE IN THIS STATE.
YOU ARE ENCLOSED WITHIN OUR GRACE AND PEACE,
DWELLING AS IF “IN THE MIDST” OF THREE DIVINE PERSONS,
BLISSFULLY EXPLORING
- THROUGH PRAYER -
THE HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF OUR INFINITE LOVE.
ONLY THROUGH PRAYER
- AS IF THROUGH A SMALL BRIGHT PASSAGEWAY -
CAN YOU LEAVE BEHIND EARTH’S DARKNESS
TO RISE UPWARD TO HEAVEN’S LIGHT, AND
- IN THE LIGHT OF GLORY -
TO REST WITHIN THE EMBRACE OF YOUR GOD: OURSELVES:
THREE DIVINE PERSONS,
ONE LORD.
(WC:1592)
T:1592 #5 ENTER WITHIN YOUR OWN SOUL, THROUGH PRAYER,
NOT JUST FOR A MINUTE, OR AN HOUR,
BUT FOR THE WHOLE OF EVERY DAY AND NIGHT.
ACCEPT MY INVITATION;
BY AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE FOR ME,
AND BY A CONFESSION OF YOUR WEAKNESS,
STOOP DOWN MORE FREQUENTLY TO ENTER THE SMALL ‘DOOR’ OF HUMILITY,
THE ‘DOOR’ WHICH LEADS YOU WITHIN YOUR OWN SOUL.
HERE, WITHIN, YOU CAN REST IN MY LOVE.
T:1592 #6 TURN TO ME, TRUSTINGLY, OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
THROUGH YOUR BELIEF IN CHRIST, YOUR SAVIOUR,
AND THROUGH YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF HIS INVITATION TO PERSEVERE IN PRAYER,
AND THROUGH YOUR PERSISTENT LOVE FOR ME, YOUR FATHER
AND THROUGH YOUR CO-OPERATION WITH MY PLAN,
YOU ARE BEING ENABLED TO REMAIN ALL THE TIME ‘WITHIN’ YOUR OWN SOUL.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DWELL, TRANSFORMED, IN AN UNCEASING UNION WITH ME:
A UNION OF LOVE, DESIRE, AND WORK.
IN THIS MARVELLOUS STATE OF TRANSFORMATION,
YOUR SOUL CAN LIVE IN UNBROKEN JOY;
YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU MOVE ‘OUTWARDS’ TO OTHER PEOPLE
TO SHARE THAT JOY WITH THEM, THROUGH MANY BLESSINGS.
T:1592 #7 TRY TO BE WORTHY OF MY FRIENDSHIP.
YOU WHO LIVE INTIMATELY UNITED WITH ME
OUGHT TO PERFORM EVERY THOUGHT AND ACTION
IN AN UTTERLY TRUTHFUL SPIRIT, WITH AN UTTERLY PURE INTENTION.
THIS IS TO LIVE AND ACT SOLELY FOR MY GLORY,
AND WITH A CONSTANT AWARENESS OF THE BLAZING LIGHT
OF MY PRESENCE NEAR YOU.
T:1592 #8 TRY TO BE WORTHY OF PERPETUAL INTIMACY WITH ME, YOUR LORD.
THROUGH THIS INTIMACY, AND BY MY GRACE AND CHOICE,
YOU MUST ‘BECOME’ LIKE A STREAM OF PURE, CLEAR, LIVING WATER FOR OTHERS;
YOU CAN ONLY REMAIN WITH ME IN THIS SORT OF TRUE UNION
IF YOU LIVE IN PERFECT TRUTHFULNESS, LOVE AND SIMPLICITY
WITH NO ‘SHADOW’ LURKING BESIDE OR BENEATH ANY OF YOUR THOUGHTS
OR ACTIONS.
AS YOU HAVE DISCOVERED, TO SOME DEGREE,
HUMILITY LEADS TO GLORY;
I REVEAL MY GLORY WITHIN A SIMPLE AND PURIFIED SOUL, IN PRAYER.
THIS IS SOMETHING SCARCELY BELIEVED OR UNDERSTOOD
BY THOSE WHO ARE FRIGHTENED OF HUMILIATIONS.
T:1592 #9 CAST BACK YOUR MIND TO THE EXPLANATION WHICH I GAVE YOU,
LONG AGO, ABOUT HUMBLE PRAYER.
I SHOWED YOU THAT YOUR SOUL CAN BE SEEN AS A KINGDOM OF LIGHT,
INTO WHICH YOU CAN ENTER - THROUGH PRAYER -
IF YOU STOOP DOWN TO PASS THROUGH THE SMALL ‘DOORWAY’
WHICH IS HUMILITY.
IF YOU ENTER THIS ‘KINGDOM’,
YOU LEAVE BEHIND EARTHLY DISTRESS AND DARKNESS.
(WC:1592B)
T:1592 #10 CONSIDER HOW ESSENTIAL ARE HUMILITY, CONTRITION AND SIMPLICITY
IN ONE WHO WISHES TO PRAY WELL AND TO BE CLOSE TO ME.
ONLY ONE WHO HAS DISCARDED EVERY PROP, DISGUISE AND PRETENCE,
AND WHO HAS ABANDONED HIS SELFISH AMBITIONS
AND HIS CLUTCHING-AT-POSSESSIONS
CAN SLIP THROUGH THE NARROW ‘DOORWAY’ OF THE SOUL, IN PRAYER,
TO ENTER MY KINGDOM.
NO COMPARABLE JOY.
T:1592 #11 ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO MAKE THE SACRIFICES
WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR THEIR PRAYERS TO BE FRUITFUL.
MANY PEOPLE HAVE LEARNED HOW TO ENTER THE ‘DOORWAY’ OF THE SOUL,
IN PRAYER.
YET SOME ENTER ONLY ONCE,
OR ENTER INFREQUENTLY, AT IRREGULAR INTERVALS.
HOW FEW ENTER IN ORDER TO BEGIN A NEW WAY OF LIFE;
HOW FEW PERSEVERE FOR LONG ENOUGH
TO FIND THE UTTER JOY AND PEACE WHICH ARE EXPERIENCED
- AT MY INVITATION -
AFTER MANY TRIALS AND HUMILIATIONS.
HOW FEW ARE ABLE TO ENTER INTO
A WONDERFUL, INTIMATE, AND UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP WITH ME
DURING THEIR LIFE ON EARTH.
THIS IS BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO DISCARD THE POSSESSIONS,
OBSESSIONS OR DESIRES
WITH WHICH THEY ARE LADEN;
AND - THUS LADEN - THEY ARE TOO “LARGE”
TO ENTER THE SMALL ‘DOORWAY’ OF THE SOUL:
THE DOORWAY OF HUMILITY WHICH LEADS TO MY KINGDOM.
T:1592 #12 STRIVE TO SERVE ME PERFECTLY BY SERVING ME WITH A PURE INTENTION.
IN A LIFE OF INTIMATE UNION WITH ME
ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS, WORDS AND ACTIONS
SHOULD BE WISE, NECESSARY, SIMPLE, PURE AND GRACEFUL.
EVERY THOUGHT, WORD AND ACTION SHOULD ARISE
FROM A DESIRE TO PLEASE ME AND TO GIVE ME GLORY.
T:1592 #13 AVOID, WITH ALL YOUR WILL,
THE MEREST SHADOW OF CONCEIT, SELF-SEEKING OR MIXED MOTIVES,
AS YOU TRY TO SERVE ME.
T:1592 #14 BEWARE OF HUNGERING FOR THE APPROVAL OF ANYONE
EXCEPT MYSELF, AND MY FRIENDS IN HEAVEN.
UNEXPECTED TEACHINGS.
T:1592 #15 DON’T BE AFRAID.
DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE WAY IN WHICH YOU RECEIVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS,
IN PRAYER.
TRULY,
“you live in truth”.
YOU LIVE IN MY EMBRACING CARE.
THIS FRUITFUL PRAYER CAN BE SEEN AS A ‘NORMAL’ PART
OF YOUR PRESENT WAY OF LIFE,
EVEN THOUGH IT DEPENDS WHOLLY ON MY GENEROSITY.
T:1592 #16 Don’t be anxious about Our teachings. Truly, as you yourself recognise, the clear and unexpected teachings which I give to you during prayer suddenly ‘arrive’ within your soul, from above, whereas your own thoughts ‘arise’ as if from ‘below’, and emerge only gradually, as if from comparative darkness.
T:1593 #1 Let My grace shine through you, upon other people.
T:1593 #2 Co-operate with My work by banishing all selfishness. The least speck of self-interest within your soul can distract others from seeing and receiving the real graces
which I want to give them through you. Just as the perfection of a beam of light which is shining through a window is marred by the presence of a single mote of dust, so your work for Me is damaged a little by even the smallest imperfection. When you speak on My behalf, your faults can distract people from paying attention to My work and My presence. (WC:1593)
T:1593 #3 Be grateful for My frank and simple explanations about the need for vigilance in My service. But believe that I explain things in order to encourage you in your efforts, and not to condemn you!
T:1594 #1 Look towards My holy Mother, to find a worthy model of loving service. Consider the time before My Incarnation; this holy woman was serving her Creator - through her simple duties - better than anyone on earth. With her whole mind, and with every breath and every longing, she was utterly devoted throughout the whole of every day to pleasing Him and to doing His Will joyfully, gladly and graciously.
T:1594 #2 Think about the Father’s tremendous love for Mary, the holy Virgin. How tenderly
He gazed upon her, during her life on earth.
MY PASSION AND MY TRIUMPH.
T:1595 #1 Continue with your faithful devotions. You are right to adore Me at the Consecration, and to bow your head before My Precious Blood.
T:1595 #2 Always be grateful for My work of Salvation. I bore the pain of My Passion because I love you. For your sake I stood before My accusers, My arms bound, and My Body dreadfully wounded by the scourging. Truly, I suffered and died for you, in My real, normal, human, sensitive and fleshly body; but because of My great Love for you, I was a willing Victim. (WC:1595A)
T:1595 #3 Welcome Me, in our Holy Communion, when I come to your soul in the radiance of My Divine Glory. Truly, I am risen. I am alive. I am very near to you. Yet although I want you to rejoice in My triumph and in our friendship, I want you to keep two ‘views’ of Me in mind, as if you possess a double portrait of Me. On the left, you can see Me as “Christ Wounded”, and on the right you can see Me standing cloaked in Glory, as “Christ Triumphant”. You will be more thoughtful and steady in all of your thoughts and actions if you always remember what I have done for you in My holy Passion, and remember also how great is My present joy and Glory. (WC + OIL:1595B)
T:1595 #4 Remain constantly aware of My sufferings, and of their purpose. This will help you to pray the two types of prayer which always balance one another and ‘work’ together; and these types of prayer are: first, sorrow with gratitude, and, secondly, gladness, with hope!
T:1596 #1 Continue to make secret sacrifices - whether small or great - out of love for Me, and out of love for your neighbour. One who does so, and who unites his sacrifices with Mine, as One redemptive offering to the Father, begins to resemble Me, and to resemble Me in My principal task; and to be allowed to act in such a privileged role is a cause for great gratitude to your Father in Heaven.
T:1596 #2 Rejoice that you are here before the sanctuary, on this feast of the Holy Trinity. My holy Angels, on high, encircle the holy altar. They gaze towards it, ready to adore Me when I appear before you, when I your God am made Present through the words of My priest, at the Consecration. (WC:1596)
MY HOLY SACRIFICE: DIVINE PRAISE.
T:1597 #1 Rejoice that I have led you to unite yourself to Me in prayer - in your heart’s yearnings, and in your mind and will - to be One with Me as I offer My Holy Sacrifice to the Father. You who offer My praise and thanks to the Father, through the Sacrifice which is offered at the hands of My priest, give infinite and glorious praise to the Father. My prayer to the Father is perfect, powerful and effective because it is Divine!
T:1597 #2 Believe in the unique worth of My Holy Sacrifice. It is true that the Father looks tenderly upon those who - not knowing Me, and not united with Me, and so not praying in My Name - make sincere efforts to praise Him, their Creator. However, the Glory of My praise, offered during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is unequalled. No other praise is worthy of the Father. All other prayers - all of those prayers which are not offered in My Name - are frail human offerings.
T:1597 #3 Hope to see all of My children gathered about Me during the Holy Sacrifice. Many of My devout Christian children pray to the Father in My Name but pray oblivious to the source of the power of their prayer “in Christ”; and that source is My Holy Sacrifice, which is re-presented during the Holy Mass; and their worship of the Father is ‘lit’ by the Light which shines from My prayer and My Presence, at the altar. So a Christian who praises the Father in My Name, yet who is ignorant of the Holy Mass, or who is so badly taught that he thinks he does right when He ignores My Church and avoids the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, is nevertheless praising the Father through My Offering in the One, true Sacrifice of Calvary and altar, even if he does not realise it. (WC + OIL:1597)
A PERVERTED WILL.
T:1598 Don’t think that you have failed, if you pray for a departed soul, yet see that he is refusing to approach Me. You are right to pray, since every human being is your brother or sister simply because of your humanity and therefore deserves your prayers. I, too, plead with the Father on behalf of souls. Whenever a human being dies, and whenever I see the tiniest spark of Divine Life within that soul, I plead with the Father for his or her eternal salvation, since that person and I are intimately connected by our common humanity. However, one who dies - as you have seen - quite without Divine Life has already turned away from Me, and away from My pleading and My assistance. My Divine Life can neither be endowed upon nor be received by someone who has died in sin and who has no desire to be near Me, since he shuns both Goodness and Light, with all the power of his perverted will.
T:1599 Let your faith move you to action, by which I mean: to confident acts of faith in My Love for you and to prayers of gratitude and adoration, after the Consecration. Few of My friends can expect to gaze upon My radiant face, when I am Really Present amongst you, and as the Sacred Host is elevated and adored. By My Will you live by faith and not by ‘sight’; however - by faith - you can all be confident of the truth of things which are spiritual although unseen; so when I am Present here, you can all be sure that My Glory is pouring out upon you; everyone who loves Me can be moved by the power of faith to open his heart with confidence to My Light, power, purity and wisdom. I long to share My gifts with you all. (WC:1599)
T:1600 Rejoice in the grace which has just driven you to be ruthlessly honest in prayer. How difficult it was for you to speak to Me about these things! But what a marvel is repentance and forgiveness. I assure you now - as you can see - that just as the spear pierced My Heart as I hung upon the Cross, and caused an outpouring of blood and water, so a single, simple prayer of true contrition pierces My Heart in Heaven: pierces it as if with a blade, yet effects an immediate outpouring of the ‘sweet wine’ which is My peace and forgiveness, a ‘wine’ which is pouring out at this very moment upon your beloved soul. (WC:1600)
T:1601 #1 Imitate My Holy Angels, in your longing to serve and to worship Me as I deserve. The best adoration, or the best proof of sincere and generous homage, is a perpetual and total self-offering, made solely out of love for Me.
T:1601 #2 Consider how single-minded are the holy Angels who serve Me. Copy their example. The most generous and sincere self-offering, in My service, is a willing offering of time, of work, of heart-felt loyalty and energy, with all desires subordinated to the one desire of pleasing Me at every moment, in every circumstance.
T:1601 #3 Don’t be anxious about the work which you are doing for Me. You need not struggle to plan every bit of work, far in advance, in order to please Me. Common -sense should lead you to make provisional plans, but without anxiety. Do whatever seems best, at each moment. Since you are trying to be obedient and faithful, and since you try to live and work for My Glory, you can be sure that - in My sight - what you are doing is the best possible task.
THE GREATEST TREASURE.
T:1602 #1 Follow My inspiration and unite your heart and your prayers with Mine, during the Holy Sacrifice. Turn to your Father in Heaven, and say what I say to Him; offer My Offering to Him. Listen, now, to His teaching:
BE JOYFUL!
YOU WHO ARE CLOSE TO CHRIST, AND WHO ARE CLOSE TO HIS SACRED HEART
- THE GREAT LOVE OF WHICH YOU ARE CELEBRATING TODAY -
CAN REJOICE THAT YOU ARE AS IF HELD IN HIS EMBRACE,
AS HE OFFERS HIS HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE ALTAR FOR MY GLORY;
AND I, YOUR FATHER, GAZE TENDERLY FROM HEAVEN UPON YOUR WORSHIP,
LOOKING UPON CHRIST’S GLORIOUS PRAISE
- PERFECT PRAISE WHICH HE OFFERS ON YOUR BEHALF -
AS IF UPON PRAISE WHICH YOU OFFER
AS YOUR VERY OWN.
(WC:1602)
T:1602 #2 HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY OFFERING
WHICH ASCENDS FROM THE ALTAR!
EVERYONE WHO OFFERS CHRIST’S PRAISE TO ME OFFERS PRAISE
OF AN INFINITE SPLENDOUR:
PRAISE WHICH IS WORTHY OF MY GREAT MAJESTY.
UNENDING PRAISE.
T:1603 #1 PRAY IN UNION WITH CHRIST, THROUGHOUT THE HOLY MASS.
OFFER CHRIST’S GLORY TO ME, WHEN YOU RECEIVE HIM IN HOLY COMMUNION.
TRULY, HE IS THE “GREATEST TREASURE”
WHICH YOU COULD OFFER TO ME.
HIS DIVINE PRAISE - FROM WITHIN YOUR SOUL -
IS AN INFINITELY WORTHY GIFT FOR ME.
PRAY, UNCEASINGLY.
YOU CAN OFFER THAT SAME DIVINE PRAISE TO ME
AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY OR NIGHT,
SINCE CHRIST - WITH ME, YOUR FATHER,
AND WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT -
HAS A HOME WITHIN YOUR SOUL.
AT ANY TIME YOU CHOOSE,
YOU CAN JOIN IN OUR LOVING COMMUNION.
YOU CAN FREELY SHARE THE DIVINE LIFE,
THE UNENDING PRAISE AND DELIGHT OF THE WHOLE GLORIOUS TRINITY:
FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT WHO DWELL WITHIN YOU.
T:1603 #2 GRASP THE ‘KEY’ TO WORTHY PRAYER, TO CONFIDENT PRAYERS OF PETITION;
REJOICE IN YOUR BAPTISM,
THROUGH WHICH OUR LIFE FIRST BURNED, BRILLIANTLY, WITHIN YOU.
REJOICE IN YOUR FAITH:
YOUR PLACING OF TRUST IN CHRIST’S MERITS, HIS CROSS, AND HIS ACTIONS.
ALL HE HAS IS YOURS, BECAUSE OF YOUR UNION.
ALL HE HAS IS YOURS, TO OFFER AS YOUR OWN GIFT TO ME, YOUR FATHER.
YOU CAN OFFER CHRIST’S PRAYER TO ME: A PRAYER OF DIVINE POWER AND WORTH
WHICH WILL SATISFY ALL YOUR LONGINGS TO PRAISE ME WORTHILY.
YOU CAN OFFER HIS THANKS TO ME, AS A WORTHY GIFT FOR ME,
IN RETURN FOR EVERY CAUSE FOR GRATITUDE.
YOU CAN OFFER HIS REPARATION TO ME.
HIS HOLY SACRIFICE IS AN INFINITE REPARATION FOR SINS.
YOU CAN OFFER HIS PETITIONS AS YOUR OWN, IN FAITH AND CONFIDENCE,
ALSO OFFERING YOUR PETITIONS AS HIS,
AT THE PROMPTING OF MY SPIRIT.
HENCE, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT THEY ARE HEARD AND GRANTED!
T:1604 #1 Persevere with your work on My behalf. Don’t be afraid to distribute your booklets to people you meet, as you are prompted by conscience and by various opportunities.
T:1604 #2 Entrust this work to Me. It is My work, being achieved through you, and so there is no need for anxiety. Since you speak about Me to others in order to please Me, you can be sure that I shall draw good from your efforts - even when you think that you have spoken badly, or when your approach has been unwelcome.
T:1604 #3 Don’t be afraid. Put your trust in Me once more, in the knowledge that you are making sincere efforts to do My Will.
A ‘SAMPLE’ OF EVERYDAY LIFE.
T:1604 #4 Don’t waste time by entertaining vague and disquieting worries about how well you serve Me. In regular moments of prayerful reflection, one who is devoted to Me and who trusts in Me is able to see the ‘layers’ of his commitment to life “in” Me. Just as when an engineer takes a ‘core sample’ from the earth or from the sea-bed in order to analyse materials at various layers, so any friend of Mine can examine, through pondering a ‘core sample’ of his daily life, how sincerely and how fully he is living for Me and working with Me, his Saviour, in a state of Reconciliation and true Communion. (WC:1604)
T:1604 #5 Don’t imagine that I want you to live in a state of agitation, poring over every past thought and action. Through your mature self-examination - and by My grace - you can learn to live in a state of perpetual and peaceful repentance, confident of My Love, and joyful because of our friendship.
T:1604 #6 Encourage others to be brave in prayer: to look closely within the soul, in order to see it as it appears to My tender but all-seeing gaze. Encourage them to take a ‘core sample’: to cast a swift glance within the soul - as if from top to bottom - in order to assess the degree of self-giving. Those who long to love Me more fervently can ask themselves these questions, in their prayer-time:
‘Am I really longing to please my Saviour?
Am I willing to reveal, freely, to Him,
all the ‘layers’ of my soul:
the thoughts and activities of my everyday life?
Am I doing His Will?
Am I now in the place where Christ wishes me to be?
Am I busy with the task which He wishes me to do now?
Am I willing to do His Will before anyone else’s?
Am I at peace, past wrongs put right?
Am I at peace, all hurts forgiven?
Am I at peace, my grudges surrendered?
Am I at peace, a friend of God and of my neighbour?
Am I at peace, the future entrusted to my Saviour?
Am I faithful, patient and uncomplaining?
Am I praising God with a devout heart,
an unclouded mind and a pure intention?’
T:1604 #7 Offer praise and thanks for every good thing which I have given to your soul. None of you is an infallible judge of the state of his own soul; but what a great grace it is, when, in sincere prayer, and through My grace, a soul perceives that she is living in a joyful and untroubled union with Me, her Redeemer. What a great grace it is, when a soul has consented to My purifying work, and so has
been brought to a state which is carefree and peaceful, a state of supernatural union in which that soul is wholly dedicated to My work and My Glory; and this is true of souls even when little faults remain within.
T:1604 #8 Try to remain aware of your constant need for My help and My mercy. As you travel towards Heaven, trust and humility are essential.
T:1605 Don’t be embarrassed about your little faults, when you approach Me in prayer. Whenever you repent, I look tenderly upon you. Whenever you put your trust in Me, you are like a small child who is confident of being embraced and consoled; and I am like a mother, in My love and admiration for you, My child, whenever you approach Me with your troubles. (WC + OIL:1605)
GUIDING YOUR STEPS.
T:1606 #1 Realise how greatly I rejoice, when you love My Holy Will and try to do it, always keen to know My wishes in every area of life. Truly, when you allow yourself to be led by My Spirit, and when you follow Me contentedly, it is as though you are placing your hand in Mine. Our united actions are ‘like a dance, Lizzie!’ You are just like a dancer who trusts that her partner will guide her every step, even when she cannot see where she is going! (WC:1606)
T:1606 #2 Remind yourself, in difficult times, that I delight in the soul which follows My guidance and does My Holy Will with neither grumbling nor selfish curiosity.
T:1607A Be faithful to the Offering which you offer with Me, daily, to the Father. No greater act of adoration of the Father can be made than a complete offering of self to Him, for His service and Glory: when that offering is united to My perfect and holy Sacrificial Offering.
T:1607B Believe that your prayers are worthwhile. Whenever you pray in My Name to the Father, I Myself offer your prayers to Him. For example, when you sat at your kitchen table just now, and said ‘grace’ before beginning your supper, it was just as though I stood beside the table, looking up to the Father above - My arms outstretched in prayer - offering to Him the very prayer of thanks which you had just recited so devoutly! (WC:1607B)
DISCIPLESHIP.
T:1608 #1 Think about the qualities to which I drew your attention today, through the homily, when My priest spoke about simplicity, goodness and courage. These virtues - with great faith - were evident in the lives of the ‘first Martyrs of Rome’ whose feast we celebrate today; and all who are willing to be My present-day apostles and martyrs should examine themselves humbly and truthfully, and should turn to Me, to be made worthy of My friendship.
T:1608 #2 Cast your mind back to the time when I was living on earth, and when I was travelling and teaching - and, all the while, was gathering new disciples about Me. Many of those people had undergone radical spiritual changes; yet, as you know, it is only gradually that someone who has come to believe in Me can act and live as a true disciple; and he learns a great deal about discipleship simply from living in My company from day to day, and from living in the company of other people who love Me. This is why many of you who have known Me for a long time are therefore happy and confident in My presence; you know that I love you; and you know how best to please Me.
T:1608 #3 Consider the way in which I trained My disciples, during My earthly life - and see why the same principles hold true for today! It is as though I invite every new friend to join a circle of active disciples and to learn from their knowledge about Me, and from their example. When I lived on earth, people could meet Me and travel with Me, whereas now that I am here, in Heaven, in Glory, My holy Church on earth continues - in one sense - to ‘be’ My earthly life. It is within My holy Catholic Church that My new disciples can meet My active disciples, learn from their detailed knowledge about Me, and copy their example. It is through this ‘Body’ of disciples on earth - My Catholic Church - that I share My Good News about Salvation, and that I teach people about daily behaviour in My company, and about the spiritual journey.
T:1608 #4 Share with other people a number of simple truths about discipleship. Some of these things have been neglected because of their very simplicity; yet they are essential for one who hopes to be a true friend of Mine. You will help others tremendously if you share My simple recommendations. Through you, I wish to say to others:
Believe in My Love for you!
Be confident enough to join Me
by joining My friends, in My holy Church, and
by meeting Me in prayer.
Stay as close to Me as possible,
through the companionship of prayer,
and through following the instructions
of the Holy Father, who sits where once I sat,
at the centre of My circle of disciples.
(WC:1608)
T:1608 #5 Learn from Me
by the words from My lips, in the Holy Scriptures, and
by the words of those who know Me well.
Learn from My saintly friends and priestly teachers
of your own time
and of past generations.
Remain in the company of My faithful disciples,
unless you are called apart
to a special mission.
Your fellow-disciples can teach
and encourage you, daily.
Trust in Me, your Saviour,
even when you are tempted to believe
that My attention is elsewhere.
Believe that I am always close-at-hand.
Learn how to be patient.
Work quietly,
unlike those who strike attitudes,
or who yearn for special treats or attention.
Follow Me faithfully wherever I lead you.
Stay “in Communion”.
Count yourself privileged to be in My company.
Hope to be with Me forever!
Hope to discover the limitless joy and fulfilment
which are My gifts
to those of My friends who persevere in love.
A LAMP FOR YOUR FEET.
T:1609 Treasure the spiritual light which is given to you by My Holy Spirit. You are right to ask for His guidance, before you confess your sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You are right to thank Him for His help. My Holy Spirit is like a lamp which is shining above you. He is like a lamp for your feet as you make your way through the darkness which is earthly life towards Me, your Saviour, Who await you in Heaven. By His bright beam of truth and wisdom you can walk towards Me with confidence, as your path is illumined a little at a time. (WC:1609)
YOUR LOVE FOR ME.
T:1610 #1 Think about Me, your Saviour; and think about Who I am, and about My two-fold nature. Whenever you welcome Me fervently in Holy Communion, you are honouring your Lord and Creator; but you are also delighting someone Who is truly human. I love to be loved! I feel great delight at the love and affection of every person who loves Me!
T:1610 #2 Realise something of the marvel of My holy Incarnation; you who believe that I am truly human as well as Divine can understand that - just like yourselves - I delight in receiving true expressions of love and loyalty and gratitude. I experience a real and unfeigned delight in the evidence of your love for Me!
T:1610 #3 Remind yourself of this extraordinary truth, something very encouraging for weak and perhaps timid people: that, by your love:
You can give Me joy!
You can make Me happy.
You can lighten My heart.
You can ‘ease’ My longing both to love and to be loved.
You can satisfy My concern for your welfare.
NEEDY PEOPLE, AND HELPERS.
T:1611A #1 Consider how joyfully I come to the altar, at the moment of Consecration, since I delight in doing the Father’s Will, and I delight in being amongst you to offer My Holy Sacrifice on your behalf. Yet consider how great is My joy at coming to join those of My friends whose hearts are simple and child-like! I am speaking about these people who are called ‘weak’ because they are obviously in need of help, although some of them are strong people: strong in faith and hope and love.
T:1611A #2 Consider how tenderly I gaze upon the people who have arranged for these ‘handicapped’ friends and relations to be together, in My Presence, today. How overjoyed I am, to be with these courageous helpers who are trusting and obedient. Day by day, they put their trust in Me, amidst appalling difficulties, and they are obedient to the duties which I their God have set before them; and you are right to rejoice that you have been able to join them for this celebration.
T:1611B #1 Celebrate something in your own life which is going to help other people. You can apply My words - from Holy Scripture - to My own ‘teachings-in-prayer’; truly: “You have been trusted to look after something precious.” My teachings are something precious, important, and reliable: an extraordinary gift.
T:1611B #2 Ensure that the whole body of work which you have produced in accordance with My instructions is kept safe. Make sure that the writings are handed on, to teach and encourage others.
DISCERNING TRUE SPIRITUAL JOY.
T:1612 #1 Accept My gifts, in prayer. Accept not just My teachings, but also the gift of joy which I lavish upon you. When you repent of your faults, and when you find that your heart is suddenly pierced by My Divine Sweetness, be as simple and as grateful as a child.
T:1612 #2 Don’t allow a wise vigilance about the deceptions of the evil one to make you suspicious about every happy experience in prayer! Consider what happened in prayer, today: when you repented, you then experienced joy. Now consider the spiritual law which your Heavenly Father unveils, as He says to you:
“You can never be deceived by Truth.”
Since it is a spiritual truth that repentance leads to joy, and since you experienced that sort of pure and intense joy today only after a sincere repentance, you can rest content in the truth, which is that that happy experience was My gift to you, a gift which I wish you to accept with childlike glee and gratitude.
T:1612 #3 Consider how frequently you have been brought to a state of new happiness, after a sincere repentance of your faults. That happiness has not always been experienced with such vigour and immediacy as today; also, the ‘normal’ peace-of-soul which follows a sincere repentance is not always felt immediately by one whose emotions are in turmoil; new efforts at accepting truth courageously, or the effort involved in confession and Reconciliation can at first veil the deep-seated peace which is My gift to My friends. But you can see - if you look back, briefly - that every new, true Reconciliation has led you to a deeper state of joy, since I never fail to reward good acts, and a sincere confession always involves good acts of generosity and humility.
T:1612 #4 Remember that there are two good things you can do which are so wonderful that I always reward them; so any spiritual joy which follows them can be accepted wholeheartedly as a gift from Me, your delighted Saviour. First, whenever you repent of a real fault, you do a wonderful thing; and secondly: whenever you do your plain duty as well as you can, with a good spirit, you can be confident that you are pleasing Me. You would be pleasing Me by your efforts, even were you to have misjudged what really is your duty. But since it is always My Will that you try to do your duty, I always reward your efforts.
A NEW COVENANT.
T:1613 #1 Rejoice in your faith, which impels you to adore Me, after the Consecration, as you gaze towards the altar, and towards My Precious Blood, which is here in the chalice. Your Heavenly Father delights in your devotion, since it was by His Will that a New Covenant - in this Precious Blood - was made with frail humanity.
T:1613 #2 Listen to your Heavenly Father, Who now speaks to you about His Love - His ‘extreme’ Love - for mankind:
DON’T BE AFRAID.
HOW PRECIOUS YOU ARE.
HOW INFINITELY DEEP IS MY LOVE FOR MANKIND.
TRULY,
I MADE A NEW COVENANT, SEALED IN BLOOD,
SEALED NOT IN THE BLOOD OF AN ANIMAL
- AS WAS THE FORMER COVENANT -
BUT IN THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, MY SON:
YOUR SAVIOUR.
WHAT MORE COULD I DO THAN SEND MY OWN SON TO SAVE YOU?
WHAT MORE COULD HE DO THAN OFFER HIS OWN BLOOD
- IN LONELINESS AND DESOLATION -
TO SEAL THE NEW COVENANT?
TERRIBLE WERE THE SUFFERINGS WHICH HE BORE
BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.
BECAUSE OF LOVE, HE OBEYED ME; HE ENDURED THE WORK
OF THE EVIL POWER WHICH LED HIM TO CRUCIFIXION:
THE POWER WHICH RAGES ACROSS THE EARTH TODAY
JUST AS IT ONCE SWEPT OVER HIS WOUNDED BODY.
A GREAT, MALEVOLENT WIND IS DESTROYING ALMOST EVERYTHING
IN ITS PATH
AS IT WISHED TO DESTROY MY SON.
BUT ON THE CROSS, HE REMAINED UPRIGHT: AN IMAGE OF HOPE,
ALTHOUGH PINIONED, FOR YOUR SAKE,
SUFFERING ALL THE EFFECTS OF THAT EVIL FORCE,
SERVING AS A SACRIFICE: A VICTIM,
LONELY ON A HILLSIDE,
ACCEPTING THE PAIN.
IN SHOWING YOU THAT PATIENT ENDURANCE,
HE PROVED THAT DIVINE POWER WILL TRIUMPH
OVER EVERY EVIL.
CHRIST, MY SON AND YOUR REDEEMER, IS A ‘ROCK’,
A SYMBOL, AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL.
WITHOUT HIS SACRIFICE, YOU WOULD BE WHOLLY WITHOUT HOPE.
(WC + OIL:1613A)
T:1613 #3 CONSIDER THE WORLD TODAY.
THE EARTH IS SWEPT BARE
- IT SEEMS -
BY THE WINDS OF EVIL.
MANY PEOPLE WONDER:
WHO CAN WITHSTAND SUCH FORCES?
JESUS CHRIST, MY SON, REMAINS ‘UPRIGHT’.
ONE WHO CLINGS TO HIM
- MANKIND’S SAVIOUR -
CAN HOPE TO REMAIN SPIRITUALLY ‘UPRIGHT’ AND FAITHFUL.
CHRIST WAS ‘UPRIGHT’ ON THE CROSS,
HELD HIGH ON CALVARY,
APPARENTLY HELD BY THE POWER OF MEN,
YET BY HIS OWN WILL HE REMAINED THERE
IN THE BATTLE AGAINST EVIL FORCES,
JUST LIKE MOSES, WHO
- WHEN THE BATTLE RAGED BENEATH HIM -
CAUSED THE VICTORY
BY HAVING HIS ARMS HELD UP HIGH.
the covenant and the sacrifice.
T:1613 #4 BE STRONG IN FAITH.
THE VERY SACRIFICE WHICH CHRIST OFFERED ON CALVARY
IS ‘HELD UP’ AND OFFERED TODAY,
ON THE HOLY ALTAR.
YOU CAN BE SURE, THEREFORE,
THAT JUST AS MEN IN BATTLE LOOKED UPON MOSES
AND WERE STRENGTHENED,
SO THOSE WHO LOOK UPON CHRIST MY SON
OR WHO CLING TO HIS CROSS, IN FAITH,
DURING CURRENT BATTLES AGAINST EVIL,
WILL FIND THE STRENGTH TO RESIST THE EVIL FORCES
WHICH MAKE A WASTE-LAND
OF FRIENDSHIPS, COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS,
CIVIC SOCIETY AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICE.
IT IS THROUGH THE HOLY MASS
WHERE THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST MY SON
IS RE-PRESENTED
THAT YOU CAN FIND HIM
MOST SURELY.
AS HE HOLDS UP HIS ARMS, INTERCEDING,
YOU CAN CLING TO HIM,
THERE BEFORE THE ALTAR.
YOU TOO CAN HOPE FOR VICTORY
AMIDST YOUR TRIALS.
YOU CAN ENDURE THE ASSAULTS OF EVIL.
YOU CAN REMAIN UPRIGHT IN VIRTUE.
YOU CAN PERSEVERE TO THE END,
IF YOU REMAIN “IN CHRIST”,
ENTRUSTING YOURSELF TO ME, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
(WC + OIL:1613B)
“IN COMMUNION”.
T:1614 #1 Be confident that your prayers, and your ‘offering’ of your Holy Communion today, will benefit your faithful children. I, the Saviour Whom you meet in Holy Communion, build bridges between all of you who are My friends. You can be sure that you who are united to Me in Holy Communion are therefore united with everyone else who is united to Me in Holy Communion; you have a special, spiritual kinship.
T:1614 #2 Take as the literal truth the word which is used to describe My holy Church: “The Communion” of Saints. This ‘Communion’ is not a pious hope, but a reality. By My gift of Divine Life in Holy Communion, I join together all the faithful people who have received My Sacred Body and Blood. It is just as though I am pouring My Light from Heaven down towards the earth - pouring that Light down to each individual faithful soul through a separate little channel; and these ‘channels’ represent each soul’s renewed intimacy with Me in Holy Communion; but you can see that each ‘channel’ has a little doorway in the side, through which that soul can glance towards all of the other people who are receiving My Light and Presence; and all of these people can communicate with one another - spiritually - even though they might be far apart on earth. Only through the ‘channel’ which is each one’s Communion with Me does each one have a ‘doorway’ through which he can reach out to touch the souls of his spiritual brothers and sisters. (WC + OIL:1614)
T:1614 #3 Learn to treasure the spiritual and real kinship which exists between faithful people who, because of their sacramental union with Me, are “in Communion” with one another. This kinship can exist and endure even when people are half a world apart, or when they can neither see nor correspond with one another, or when they differ in age, temperament or state of health, or differ in gender, race, height, intellect, education or language! Let this knowledge remind you to look upon My Church as if with My eyes, to see that the ‘Communion of Saints’ is something marvellous which transcends every natural boundary.
T:1614 #4 Think about the ‘channel’ of grace which is the Blessed Sacrament. Just as an earthly tunnel can be blocked by people who - remaining within it - build up a pile of debris and so shut out the light, so each person who has turned away from Me - thus piling up the ‘debris’ of darkness and sin - neither receives My Light in Holy Communion nor shares it with others in a spiritual friendship. A spiritual Communion “in Christ” is established or increased between people who receive Me in Holy Communion devoutly, not sacriligiously. I cannot join together through Holy Communion those in whom My Divine Life has never yet blazed up nor those in whom it has been extinguished.
T:1614 #5 Believe in the work of My grace; I am at work in marvellous ways, even though ‘invisibly’. Every devout ‘Holy Communion’ is fruitful in all sorts of ways. Everyone who is filled with My Divine Life in Holy Communion becomes - therefore - like a loving heart which has an open doorway through which My Light can pour outwards upon all who will welcome or recognise such radiance.
PURE, ETERNAL FRIENDSHIPS.
T:1614 #6 Act upon the knowledge that you are united in a marvellous way with other people who are “in Communion”. You who are full of My Divine Life - received in Holy Communion - can meet one another in a spiritual yet powerful way, within your life “in” Me, Jesus your Saviour. By an act of the will, you can reach out spiritually, to touch one another in a moment of prayer. In this way, your heart’s normal human yearnings can be fulfilled; your desire for contact with the people you cherish can be fulfilled; such desires can be channelled through Me. I am “The Way” by which you can stay in contact with one another. Nothing can separate you from those with whom you are spiritually “in Communion” through Me, even when you can rarely speak to them, or even when you die.
T:1614 #7 Value your spiritual friendships. The union which exists between one person and another in prayer - and through Me, your Redeemer - is closer and more intimate than any friendship which is based solely on natural gifts and feelings. True spiritual friendship and intimacy is superior to physical bonding. It is even more ‘real’ than the close union which is apparently achieved when a wholly ‘earthly’ friendship between a man and a woman is physically consummated. Furthermore, a loving and spiritual union between two people who are united “in Christ” is indestructible; and the reason for this is that a love which can be channelled through Me in thoughts and prayers is quite obviously a love which is sincere, purified and holy; and if it is such, it is everlasting!
STAYING IN THE ‘SHALLOWS’.
T:1615 #1 Continue to encourage others towards “full Communion” with My holy Church and therefore with Me. One who is baptised but who is not in “full Communion” with My Holy Catholic Church is like someone who is clinging to the river-bank of the great, wide ‘River’ which is My Divine Life, as it is being ‘channelled’ through earthly lives. Everyone who has been baptised has already been plunged, fully, ‘into’ My Life, it is true. By baptism, each one of you has been cleansed, and has been made ready for the journey which is the River’s passage towards the Ocean: which is Eternal Life with the Father. But one who clings to the ‘river-bank’ - by clinging to his private opinions and personal ambitions and therefore shunning full Communion - risks condemning himself to loneliness and stagnation. This is so, even if it is ignorance or fear which prevent someone from looking towards the centre of the River, that is, to My holy Catholic Church; there, the River waters are deep, clear and powerful, and are carrying towards Heaven everyone who remains in their embrace. (WC + OIL:1615)
T:1615 #2 Be patient with those of My good-hearted friends who have plunged within My Life, through baptism, but who have not yet begun to move freely on the great Christian journey which is life within My Holy Catholic Church. Encourage such a friend to move - a little at a time - towards the deepest part of the River which is the Life of My Church. At first, he can be like a swimmer who lunges a few feet at a time from one part of the shallows to another, yet who gradually moves further downstream. He can remain for a while within sight and sound of the ‘river-bank’ which reassures him; he can retain many of his long-established habits, opinions and prayer-routines, but he can become more observant and thoughtful. He might come to see, eventually, that one who denies himself the real and full state of ‘Communion’ to which I call him - true union and involvement with the visible fellowship of Catholics - is not at the ‘heart’ of My Church. He will see that one who denies himself My gift of ‘Confirmation - and - Eucharist’ is like someone who “paddles in the shallows” of the spiritual life of My Holy Church. He is also denied the joy, power, strength and sense of direction which are found at the centre of the River, in full Communion.
T:1615 #3 Help others to understand that I lead My friends most surely towards Myself through this great Company which is My Holy Catholic Church. In this One Communion are gathered My People, who know the ‘Way’ to Heaven, the ‘Way’ which sprang from Me, your Saviour, and from My Apostles, a ‘Way’ long-followed by My Saints: a ‘Way’ which is like a fast-flowing river and which leads towards the Ocean of My Love, in Eternity.
T:1615 #4 Help others to aim for full membership of My Church, but not in the sense of their hoping for prominence or position. A full and mature participation in the life of My Church can be achieved by everyone who is in full Communion and who loves and tries to do My Will - in whatever area and no matter how quietly.
T:1616 #1 Share these teachings with others, as I have instructed you, but remember that they should be offered, primarily, to your fellow-Catholics. During this introductory period, I want you to reach out to those who in your day are like “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
T:1616 #2 Be confident in speaking of Me and of My teachings. Remind other people that I am very near to them. Say: “Jesus is alive! He loves you and wants you to be obedient, and thus to be happy and holy.”
THE NEED FOR PENANCE.
T:1617 Rejoice in your union with Me in Holy Communion. You are right to turn to your Father in Heaven, to thank Him for giving you a loving Saviour and for lifting you - through your union with Me - into His friendship. Listen to His teaching:
DON’T BE AFRAID.
YOU ARE BLINDED BY MY GLORY
IN THE PRAYER OF UNION,
WHICH IS YOURS, THROUGH MY GOODNESS, AND
YOURS, ALSO, THROUGH THE GIFT OF YOUR OWN SOUL
TO ME
IN A STEADY SELF-OFFERING: ACHIEVED BY PENANCE.
HOW RARE, TODAY, ARE PENANCE AND SURRENDER.
Only by acts of penance can a soul prepare itself
to be clothed, fully, in the forgiveness which I your God
am holding out to you all
AT EVERY MOMENT.
Only by acts of penance
can a soul co-operate with My work, within,
at each stage of the spiritual journey.
ONLY WHEN A SOUL FREELY ACCEPTS HIS NEED FOR PENANCE
CAN I ASSIST HIM FULLY.
BY TINY PENANCES: BY LITTLE CURBINGS OF SELFISH THOUGHTS, AND
BY STRUGGLES WITH SELF-WILL, SELF-INDULGENCE AND SELF-SATISFACTION,
YOU CLEAR A ‘SPACE’, FOR MY LIGHT TO SHINE WITHIN YOU.
A PENITENTIAL SOUL
SEES MORE CLEARLY HOW TO REACH OUT TOWARDS ME,
DOES AWAY WITH HESITATION IN IMPORTANT MATTERS,
SEES HIS OWN FAULTS, AND MY WILL, MORE CLEARLY,
RECEIVES POWER TO FOLLOW MY WAY OF HOLINESS,
AND PREPARES HIMSELF TO RECEIVE MY GIFTS.
I LAVISH MY GIFTS UPON ALL WHOM I CALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST:
UPON ALL WHOM I CALL TOWARDS PRAYER-IN-UNION,
AND WHO HAVE ACCEPTED MY INVITATION.
A PILGRIMAGE.
T:1618 Let Me gladden your heart and soul, during your pilgrimage to Knock Shrine. Look upward in prayer, high above the holy altar in this Basilica. Here I am, before you, as My Holy Sacrifice is celebrated. Here I am, clothed as a bishop, a mitre on My head. Here I am: your High Priest, from Heaven. The air is bright with My radiance as I touch and console you today, through these sacraments: the Sacrament of the Sick and the Sacrament of My Sacred Body and Blood. (WC:1618)
T:1619 #1 Share the good news about forgiveness. Share the wonderful news that anyone can receive forgiveness, who wishes to receive it! My forgiving Love pours out ceaselessly towards you all. My forgiveness shines towards each soul just as surely as a vast beam of torchlight shines into a dark cavern; people who wish to receive My Light and grace have the duty, therefore, and the simple need, of clearing away the sins which - like huge rocks from a roof-fall - block that Light and grace and keep Me from the soul’s ‘centre’. (WC:1619)
T:1619 #2 See what you have accomplished, by your courage today. All is bright, within your soul, after your Reconciliation. Help others to see that a true clearing-away of sins can be achieved through the means which I Myself have established within My Church: through confession and Reconciliation. Help them to see, too, that through a ‘clearing-away’ of sins in this manner, they permit Me to pour My Light and joy within their hearts.
FREE-WILL AND FOOLISHNESS.
T:1620 #1 Be grateful for your adoption as a child of your Heavenly Father; and notice how - like a true child - you enjoy great freedom in your approach to this beloved Father. You are free to pray in one way or in another, although you realise that awe and reverence should co-exist with tender love and devotion. Consider, too, how I your Saviour - the Divine Son - respected the freedom of those who approached Me when I lived and worked on earth, and when many people were curious about My words and actions. I permitted these people to choose to draw close to Me, as I sat upon a hillside preaching, or to stay away. These same people were free to peer at Me in idle curiosity, as I hung on the Cross, dying, or to gaze at Me devotedly; and since I - your Lord and Redeemer - am always the same, I permit true freedom in every era. Whenever My Holy Sacrifice is offered today, you are all permitted to choose whether to draw close to Me, or whether to stay some distance away. (WC + OIL:1620)
T:1620 #2 Encourage others to understand that although I invite you all to exercise your free-will, every choice has consequences. Certain choices are immensely wise, and others are foolish. For example, anyone who is a member of My Holy Catholic Church does well to choose - freely - to obey My wish that he take part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where circumstances allow; and although he is free to welcome Me or to abstain from receiving Me in Holy Communion he would be wise were he to choose - freely - to change his life and to receive My forgiveness so that he could have the joy of receiving Me in the Blessed Sacrament. Anyone who postpones a necessary Reconciliation is risking an eternal loss of friendship with Me, or - at the very least - is postponing his much-needed and eventual purification.
T:1621 #1 Rejoice at knowing that My Love for you doesn’t depend upon your state-of-soul! I am not ‘put off’ by your frailty or foolishness. How tremendously do I admire you, My children, when you are penitent and when you approach Me trustingly!
T:1621 #2 Consider the sacred priesthood, in order to see how much I love you all, in your frailty! I permit even frail and inadequate men to share My priesthood. I clothe them in power and dignity in order to fit them for their role.
T:1621 #3 Accept My Will for you, in your own vocation. It is My Will that - in your frailty and inadequacy - you receive Glory, for the sake of the work which you are doing for Me. Therefore, I will arrange this, at the right time and in the right manner.
AIMING FOR PERFECTION.
T:1622 #1 Encourage other people to move towards the wonder and the glory which is friendship with Me - towards “life in Christ” - by urging them to be reconciled. Those who live in serious sin need to realise how great is their need of My help. If they are willing to take a serious look at their state, they will see that a special ‘agent’ is needed to restore them to a state of grace. Just as a very grimy mirror cannot be cleaned by a quick and casual wipe with a coat-sleeve, since only an appropriate cleaning material can remove encrusted dirt, so a penitent soul stands in need of a really effective cleaning agent; and that effective agent is a sincere confession, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to the priest who acts in My place, and who forgives sins, by My power; and so the radiant and repentant soul is restored to My friendship.
T:1622 #2 Be ever-grateful for the wonder of your “life in Christ”. You yourself have found that one who truly loves My Will is therefore happy and peaceful at every moment. You yourself have found, even in the midst of suffering and even as you strive to do good and to avoid evil, that your heart has been changed; as you accept whatever I choose to give or to allow at each moment, you realise that this way of life brings tremendous contentment.
T:1623 Aim to be even more ‘transparent’ before Me, in sincere prayer. How wise you are, when you reveal your whole heart to Me, willingly. On the Great Day when My triumph is made plain every thought will be revealed. When your Heavenly Father, on the day of Judgement, reveals the wisdom of His plans and purposes, He will also reveal the hidden motives of men, women and children, with every secret act and every hidden evil displayed. So the more fully each soul reveals to Me, now, all that is shameful, then the quicker - and the more thoroughly - I can introduce that soul into a life of perfect simplicity, purity and peace.
HELPLESS SOULS.
T:1624 Don’t despair of the salvation of anyone for whom you pray, no matter how depressing their circumstances, nor how poor the evidence of any sign of faith or any spiritual yearning.
One who soars to the Father,
praying in My Name,
bears in her arms, to Heaven,
those for whom she pleads.
This is the meaning and purpose of intercession:
it is to soar, by My power,
through the huge dark cavern which is life on earth. It is
to bear in your arms and
to lift up towards Heaven
- closer to My Light -
helpless souls who, otherwise,
would have had no hope of joy.
(WC:1624)
T:1625 #1 Ponder the marvel which is My Holy Sacrifice. You offer this Sacrifice, today, in praise of your Heavenly Father; and He delights in your Gift. Listen to His teaching:
CHRIST’S SACRIFICE IS PERFECT.
NOTHING LESS, BY WAY OF HOMAGE,
IS WORTHY OF MY INFINITE MAJESTY,
WORTHY OF ME, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER,
WHO REIGN IN HEAVEN IN ASTONISHING LIGHT AND GLORY.
NOTHING IS WORTHY OF ME, YOUR FATHER
EXCEPT THAT THE LIFE OF EVERY MAN AND WOMAN
BE OFFERED TO ME WHOLEHEARTEDLY, FOR MY SERVICE AND GLORY;
CHRIST MY SON - THE DIVINE WORD - WHEN HE LIVED ON EARTH,
OFFERED HIS WHOLE LIFE TO ME,
FOR MY GLORY.
YOU, THEREFORE,
CAN BE GLAD TO IMITATE HIS OBEDIENT AND LOVING ATTITUDE.
T:1625 #2 HAVE CONFIDENCE
IN THE POWER OF YOUR PRAYER BEFORE THE SANCTUARY.
AS CHRIST OFFERS HIS SACRIFICE FROM THE ALTAR
- OFFERS HIS WHOLE SELF, AND HIS SACRIFICIAL PRAYER -
HE OFFERS TO ME A WHOLLY SINCERE AND DIVINELY-PERFECT HOMAGE,
HOMAGE WHICH IS YOURS TO OFFER
AS YOUR WORTHY PRAISE OF ME
IF YOU UNITE YOURSELF WITH HIS SACRIFICE.
T:1625 #3 THINK ABOUT SIN, AND PERFECTION,
AND REALISE THAT SIN DOES NOT CONSIST SOLELY
OF DELIBERATE DISOBEDIENCE TO MY COMMANDMENTS.
SINCE ONLY A TOTAL OFFERING OF SOMEONE’S HEART AND LIFE TO ME
IS WORTHY OF MY MAJESTY,
YOU CAN SEE THAT ANYTHING LESS THAN A WHOLEHEARTED SELF-OFFERING
AND SERVICE
IS AN IMPERFECTION;
AND WHILST HE WHO MAKES SMALL BUT SINCERE ATTEMPTS TO LOVE ME
DOES SOMETHING PRAISEWORTHY,
HE WHO DELIBERATELY REFUSES ME THE WHOLE-HEARTED LOVE,
HONOUR AND SERVICE
WHICH I DESERVE
IS BLAMEWORTHY.
T:1625 #4 NEVER FORGET THAT I AM PERPETUALLY LOVING AND PATIENT
TOWARDS EVERYONE:
EVEN TOWARDS IGNORANT OR DISRESPECTFUL OR SINFUL PEOPLE.
T:1626 REJOICE IN THESE TEACHINGS,
WHICH YOU RECEIVE THROUGH MY LOVE AND GENEROSITY.
YOU ARE RIGHT TO OFFER THANKS FOR THEM.
TRULY, THEY COME FROM ME, YOUR GOD.
THEY ARE LIKE SPARKS GLISTENING UPON THE BRILLIANT ‘RIVER’
WHICH IS MY DIVINE LIFE AND LIGHT
AS MY LIFE ‘FLOWS’ EVERLASTINGLY WITHIN THE GODHEAD.
THESE BURSTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
ARE LIKE MINUSCULE GLINTS THROWN OUT
- DURING OUR PRAYER-IN-UNION -
FROM THE TORRENT OF MY BURNING GLORY.
NONE OF THE ‘TEACHINGS’ DOES MORE
THAN REFLECT THE MEREST SCRAP OF MY TRUE RADIANCE,
YET EVERY LITTLE TEACHING CAN BE CONSIDERED AS CONVEYING
A SPARK OF MY INFINITE WISDOM.
(WC:1626)
REACHING OUT TO THE FATHER.
T:1627 #1 I DELIGHT IN YOUR GLAD AND WHOLEHEARTED SELF-OFFERING
TO ME, YOUR FATHER,
DURING THE HOLY MASS.
WHEN YOU OFFER YOUR WHOLE LIFE AND HEART TO ME,
UNITING YOURSELVES WITH CHRIST’S OFFERING,
YOU ARE AS CLOSE TO ME, IN ‘ORDINARY’ PRAYER,
AS IT IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE DURING YOUR LIFE ON EARTH.
THROUGH THE UNION OF YOUR LIFE AND PRAYER WITH CHRIST’S LIFE AND PRAYER
- IN HIS HOLY SACRIFICE -
YOUR PRAYER ‘LEAPS’ ACROSS THE ABYSS
WHICH SEPARATES MANKIND FROM THE GODHEAD.
THUS, YOUR PRAYER REACHES ME, YOUR FATHER.
T:1627 #2 REJOICE THAT YOU PRAY WITH MY SON,
AS YOU PRAY IN HIS NAME, AND REACH OUT TO ME, WITH HIM,
DURING THE HOLY SACRIFICE.
T:1627 #3 MANKIND IS SEPARATED FROM ME BY AN ABYSS
WHICH NONE OF YOU - BY HIMSELF - CAN BRIDGE.
THAT STATE OF SEPARATION IS A REASON FOR SORROW,
UNLESS SOMEONE LIKE YOURSELF PERMITS ME TO BRIDGE THE ABYSS IN HER LIFE.
YOU HAVE BEEN ENABLED TO REACH OUT POWERFULLY
TOWARDS ME.
WHENEVER YOU PRAY WITH CHRIST MY SON, DURING THE HOLY MASS,
IT IS JUST AS THOUGH YOU AND HE ARE STANDING TOGETHER
AT THE EDGE OF THAT DARK ABYSS;
BUT YOU CAN BE CONFIDENT THAT
- BECAUSE OF HIS SONSHIP, HIS SACRIFICE AND YOUR UNION WITH HIM -
I, YOUR FATHER, HEAR YOU.
I DELIGHT IN YOUR PRAYERS.
(WC:1627)
T:1628 Recognise the action of My Holy Spirit within your life, as He draws you further into My Divine Life, protects you from spiritual danger and prepares you for Heaven. It is as though I await you far away, in Heaven’s Glory; yet I am sending out to you, from My Heart, a powerful stream of Love which moves forward to encircle and guard you; and this ‘stream’ represents My Holy Spirit. You who live “in Jesus” are entirely wrapped in My Spirit’s embrace. Through My Holy Spirit, I am constantly at work in your lives. His Love is ceaseless, and His work is gentle, consistent, powerful and effective; and it was He Who prompted you, today, to confide in Him and to entrust every thought and memory to His searching and loving Light. (WC:1628)
T:1629 #1 Never doubt My Love for you.
T:1629 #2 Consider the Love which I have for the whole human race, and see, therefore, how I was thinking of you even during My Passion! My heart was turned towards My Father when - amidst My sufferings - I prayed for My tormentors, by saying: “Forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing!” But as I was saying those words, many centuries ago, I was also pleading for forgiveness for the whole human race: for everyone who lives in your own time, as well as for everyone in other eras, and for those who at that very moment were crucifying Me.
T:1629 #3 Consider the awesome importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as you think about sin and forgiveness. When you pray to your Heavenly Father, secretly, saying: ‘Have pity on the whole human race’, and when you also say - during the Holy Mass: ‘Father, hear the prayer which Christ prayed during His Passion’, you are truly offering My Sacrificial prayer. It is as though you who attend the Holy Mass are gathered around a deep crevasse; and you gaze into its depths, as if gazing into earlier times; and, far below, you can see Me in My earthly time, in My Passion. You can see Me helpless and half-naked, as I wait to be dragged towards the place of crucifixion; and as you are praying there, after the Consecration, you can be sure that you are present to Me, Who - offering My Sacrifice - am gazing up to the Father in fervent prayer for sinners. My prayer is the same prayer: from My Passion and from the altar; and you who offer it to the Father are uniting yourself to My infinitely powerful intercession. (WC:1629)
A HOLY PLACE FOR HOLY PEOPLE.
T:1630 #1 Remember what I have done for you, by rescuing you from sin.
T:1630 #2 Make new efforts to be worthy of our friendship and of the life which you now lead, as you communicate with Me daily. As you know, the sanctuary and the altar which you see before you are holy. They are so holy that it is as though a trench separates them from the main body of the church - a trench which is full of flames. My Divine Light is shining down upon the sanctuary; and the fire which is leaping upwards from the trench around that area represents the purification which is necessary before anyone should think of approaching, whether to serve in the sanctuary or to receive Me in Holy Communion. Everyone who intends to step towards the altar ought to prepare himself, and so should accept the purification which is wrought by penance, prayer and Reconciliation. (WC + OIL:1630)
T:1630 #3 Allow Me to work through you, to help others. Even by your very small acts of self-sacrifice or by your loving concern for others it is as if a ‘puncture’ is made within your inflated ‘self’, so permitting My Light to shine as if through an opening in the wall of your soul. My Light can pour out upon others, through you, even through your small conquests such as checking uncharitable thoughts or prejudices, or ‘offering your Communion’ for someone in need of help.
T:1630 #4 Let Me help you to make more frequent and fervent attempts to serve Me well and to love your neighbour. I delight in your kind acts, and I want to encourage you to be even more charitable. “The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given” at the end, when I will I reward you for your efforts.
MEN WHO SHARE MY PRIESTHOOD.
T:1631 Keep on praying for the men who share My Sacred Priesthood, that they might be faithful, and holy. You can see Me here, in the sanctuary, during this priestly ordination. You can see that I am robed as a Bishop - a mitre on My Sacred Head. I am the model - with all My virtues - for those who would truly share My priesthood. (WC:1631)
T:1632 #1 Understand the marvel of My Divine Life, as you welcome Me, your Saviour, in Holy Communion. You know that I bring you Glory, bliss and Light, as you acknowledge My Presence by your glad greeting. However, “I don’t come to you alone” when I come to you in Holy Communion, since wherever I work and act My Father and My Holy Spirit also work and act. I, your Saviour, do not go ‘outside’ the Godhead in order to reach a soul on earth in Holy Communion. Since no-one and nothing can separate Us: the Holy and Undivided Trinity, you can be sure that whenever I am Present within your soul “I am here with the Spirit’s power, the Father’s Life, and My Love!”
T:1632 #2 Look upon My fervent ‘descent’ to your heart, in Holy Communion, as being like the descent from Heaven of a great striated flame of Love, like an arrow. The ‘arrow’ which falls so swiftly towards you represents the work and action of the Holy Trinity at the time of Holy Communion. We are powerfully at work in your soul, through My Sacramental Presence (WC:1632)
T:1632 #3 Don’t imagine that My grace in you is fruitless. You rightly praise Me for My Love and generosity towards you who are so imperfect; you are astonished that I act towards you as if you had never sinned; and you ask for the grace to imitate Me, whenever you turn to others. But I assure you that “you have done so, Lizzie”. Whenever you have dealt lovingly and joyfully with anyone who has hurt you, you have truly followed My example; and in showing forgiveness, thus, you have given joy to Heaven. So persevere in your efforts!
THE WORK OF PRAYER.
T:1633 #1 Try to become worthy of your task: the task of remaining near the foot of the Cross, as I offer My Holy Sacrifice for sinners. (WC:1633)
T:1633 #2 Persevere in fervent prayer. Unite your heart’s intentions with Mine, before the altar. Listen to the Father’s teaching:
YOU WHO PRAY WITH CHRIST DO A GREAT WORK.
AS HE OFFERS HIS HOLY SACRIFICE TO ME, HIS FATHER,
THROUGH OUR PRIEST, AT THE ALTAR,
HE ALLOWS YOU TO JOIN IN HIS WORK OF SALVATION.
YOU MAKE, WITH HIM, THE VERY OFFERING
WHICH HE ONCE MADE ON CALVARY.
YOU OFFER THE SACRIFICE OF HIS ENTIRE LIFE,
FOR THE GLORY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.
YOU PLEAD FOR FORGIVENESS FOR ALL PEOPLE.
YOU OFFER CHRIST’S PRAYERS AND INTENTIONS, AND THEREFORE
YOU OFFER FROM YOUR HEART, AS YOUR OWN PRAYERS,
THE VERY PRAYERS WHICH ARE UTTERED BY OUR PRIEST AT THE ALTAR:
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, CHRIST’S BODY;
YOU HELP THE WHOLE WORLD, THUS, THROUGH CHRIST’S PRIESTLY INTERCESSION.
(WC:1633)
T:1634 Continue to offer thankful prayers for the work and virtues of My priests. You are right to be grateful for their service. Every priest should reflect some aspect of My fatherly care, as he fulfils his duties. So whether My priests give you wise counsel with watchful care and guidance, or whether they have great responsibility and power, or whether they be called to some obscurer service or to a gentler ministry, My priests - all together - reflect My many ways of helping you. All together, they reflect the fact that I your God am your Head, your Teacher, your Saviour, Consoler and Friend.
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
T:1635 #1 Keep a balanced view of the Holy Scriptures which - rightly - you revere. Your faith is vivified and increased as you examine these passages and make prayerful reflections. What a marvel it is, and a cause for thanksgiving, that My Light and wisdom are always ‘pouring’ through the text of Holy Scripture. Never forget, however, that I Myself - the Divine and Living Saviour - am the Source of this wisdom. One who studies the Holy Scriptures is looking at simple words printed on pieces of paper which have been bound together; and although the book which contains My words about Myself is extremely precious, it is to be revered and not idolised.
T:1635 #2 Understand the way in which My grace and truth are conveyed to you through the Holy Scriptures. It is as though I have engraved My words of wisdom about Myself on a huge sheet of glass, which is standing upright in an open space where anyone can approach it, to examine it; and anyone can reach up to touch the letters which are engraved on the surface, and to read the messages about Me; yet since My Light pours down continuously from Heaven through this ‘sheet of glass’, people who approach risk being dazzled by My Divine Light or disturbed by the truths which are revealed so clearly in this extraordinary text; and that is why many people avoid this source of wisdom. (WC + OIL:1635A)
T:1635 #3 Think about the attitude of those who are fearful of confronting Truth. They hesitate to approach My Holy Scriptures, just as they would hesitate to approach a pane of glass, were they to see such a pane engraved with My words of wisdom and pierced by shafts of Light from Heaven. These people peer timidly at My words and read only a little. Since they understand little about My purposes, and since they are reluctant to discover My Will for their lives, they dispute the plain meaning of many passages of Scripture.
T:1635 #4 See how marvellously you benefit whenever you ‘risk’ the implications of standing in the full glare of My brilliant Light and wisdom, through reading the Holy Scriptures. You who have learned to approach the text bravely and reverently have learned, therefore, how to read plainly. Through My grace and your goodwill you recognise in Holy Scripture - and see illuminated even more clearly - the truths which are being taught by My Holy Church, in her constant teaching and Tradition; and you see, confirmed, the truth that My purposes are magnificent, and unchanging, and that I invite your obedience.
T:1635 #5 Revere and be grateful for the ‘vehicles’ by means of which you receive My wisdom. However, allow every ‘vehicle’ of grace to carry you into My presence. I, Jesus Christ your Lord and Saviour, am the living Source of the gifts which you treasure.
T:1635 #6 Keep Me before the eyes of your soul.
T:1635 #7 Remember that I, your radiant and joyful Saviour, am the One Whom you meet as you ponder the text of Holy Scripture or listen to My preachers. During your life on earth, your Heavenly Father places before you various sources of Light; and the important ones are pictured before you. On the left, you can see a large sheet of glass on which are engraved My words of wisdom. This represents the Holy Scriptures through which you are guided. On the right, you can see the forms of three men, who represent My Bishops - and other clergy - through whom I guide you. But in the foreground I Myself am present, standing ready to meet you and greet you; and I Myself - your radiant and living Friend and Saviour - am the principal ‘means’ by which your Heavenly Father meets and touches and guides and enlightens you; and you meet Him ‘in Person’, and wholly, when you meet Me, His Divine Son, through My Real, ‘entire’ and holy Presence in Holy Communion! (WC:1635B)
DESCRIBING ME, YOUR SAVIOUR.
T:1636 #1 Accept My thanks for your work: for that separate piece of writing, about Me, and about the Holy Trinity. It was I Who prompted you. Truly, I called you to do it. Don’t be bashful about admitting how well you know Me! In your recent attempt to describe Me “you have written well, Lizzie!” How true it is that I am always ablaze with Love towards you: that I am always calming, encouraging, tender, wise and understanding. How true it is that although I remind you of your duties, I - your God - am grateful for your little sacrifices, and for acts of kindness towards your neighbour! I delight in our various anniversaries. I comfort you in your sorrows, and am endlessly sympathetic, even about silly or embarrassing problems; and yet you in your turn give delight to Me, your Saviour! How greatly you touch My Heart by your humility, at every sincere repentance, and by your every effort to ‘begin again’ after each failure. I delight in your declaration that I am just like the Father in the story of the ‘Prodigal Son’; and I am deeply touched by every expression of gratitude for My Love and for My gifts, though I am most deeply touched by your gratitude for what I suffered for you during My Passion. It is true that I have ‘no favourites’, yet I count as a special friend, nonetheless, everyone who shows Me true devotion, for example, by bearing sufferings patiently, out of love for Me. You who do this not only comfort Me in My Passion but also join Me in My work of Redemption.
T:1636 #2 Share the truth with others, by your writing: the truth that I am thrilled by acts of devotion or gratitude towards My holy Mother. So great is My Love for her, that I count Myself belittled, ignored or insulted, whenever anyone belittles, ignores or insults her. Whenever you show your love for her, and whenever you thank her or thank St Joseph for their care of Me, your grateful prayer delights Me.
T:1636 #3 Overcome your fears about speaking and writing frankly about Me. Truly, you know Me well; and just as you are free to describe other people, when appropriate, in charitable speech or writing, so you must see yourself as ‘free’ to describe Me. You have learned about My characteristics, through the teachings of My Church. But through our long friendship, too - from our long journey together and from our many conversations - you have sufficient knowledge to be able to describe Me to others with joy, fervour and gratitude. Far from being impertinent, you are helping to make Me known to others; and so you will encourage them in their faith.
T:1637 #1 Call out in praise of the Father, after the Consecration. With your brothers and sisters, praise Him for My birth and death - and for My work of Redemption. Truly, My Precious Blood is offered from the altar, in these Holy Mysteries. Truly, My Sacrifice of the Cross is re-presented before you. It is as though you are separated by time from the day of My Crucifixion; you can see a huge crevasse in the floor of the sanctuary; and there within its depths, in the gloom, I am hanging on the Cross, fulfilling My total self-giving. You who attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are like people who are standing at the edge of that crevasse, since you are present as I offer My once-for-all Sacrifice, through My priest, from the altar. However, you should not remain cast down, made gloomy by thoughts of sin and sacrifice. Look upwards in prayer. My work is accomplished! I Who once suffered and died am now risen, and joyful. My dwelling-place is in the bliss of Heaven. (WC:1637)
T:1637 #2 Live in joyful hope that you will one day join Me in Heaven’s Glory.
LACKING DIVINE LIFE.
T:1638 #1 Realise how essential is the presence of My Divine Life, within the soul of one who would enjoy My presence forever. Rightly, you have just praised your Heavenly Father for this child’s baptism, at the invocation of the Holy Trinity. Listen, now, to the Father’s teaching:
CONSIDER THE STATE OF ONE WHO LACKS MY RADIANCE.
SEE WHAT I SEE, AS I LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN: I SEE THE STILL FORM OF ONE WHO - WITHOUT FAITH - HAS JUST DIED.
What end awaits a human life which was sinful:
lacking Divine Life, and existing far from Me,
its Creator?
IT FALLS TO ONE SIDE, LIKE A HUSK
- A DRY THING -
WHICH IS NEITHER FRUITFUL OF ITSELF NOR OF ANY USE TO OTHERS.
(WC:1638A)
T:1638 #2 YET CONSIDER WHAT I SEE,
WHEN I LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON ONE WHO HAS RECEIVED LIFE
- MY DIVINE LIFE, IN BAPTISM -
IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY TRINITY.
FROM THE LITTLE BODY OF THIS BABY NOW BEFORE YOU
- FROM WITHIN ITS HEART AND SOUL -
A TORRENT OF BRILLIANT LIGHT IS POURING UPWARDS TOWARDS HEAVEN.
THIS TINY CHILD IS ENTIRELY FULL OF MY LIGHT AND GLORY
WHICH WILL POUR UPWARDS, CONTINUOUSLY, FOREVER,
IF MY GRACE IS NOT EXTINGUISHED
BY UNFAITHFULNESS.
T:1638 #3 SEE HOW WONDROUS IS A ‘STATE OF GRACE’!
BY ITS EXISTENCE IN THIS STATE,
A PURE SOUL - FULL OF MY LIFE - GIVES ME HONOUR AND GLORY;
AND WHEN A PURE SOUL DIES,
THE SMALL ‘FLAME’ WHICH IS THE SOUL’S LIFE
WILL BE FUSED ETERNALLY WITH THE GREAT FIRE WHICH IS MYSELF, GLORIOUS.
THAT FAITHFUL SOUL WILL BE WITH ME, THOUGH DISTINCT.
WE SHALL BE INSEPARABLE, IN HEAVEN’S BLISS AND BEAUTY.
(WC:1638B)
NEW LIFE, FROM ‘DARKNESS’.
T:1639 #1 Be hopeful about your life and our work, and about the Father’s plans.
T:1639 #2 Understand that the pattern of My earthly life is the pattern for your own life: that is, for your “life in Christ”: a spiritual life which involves birth, death and resurrection. Through the message of My Gospel, and through your meditations as you pray the Rosary, you realise that it is was just when My holy Mother and My Apostles were grieving about My death and My terrible sufferings, that I arose from the tomb in astonishing vigour and radiance. Don’t doubt that just as the Father brought Glory and triumph out of the apparent failure of My life and mission on earth, so will He cause an astonishing result in your own life, after an apparent lack of results in your efforts to spread these ‘Teachings’. It is at the darkest and quietest time, when one who is really loving waits patiently amidst signs of apparent failure, that, in an instant, I draw up new life from within darkness. My life’s ‘pattern’ will one day be reproduced in your own life, because I will cause a tremendous and lively fulfilment to crown apparent failure!
T:1640 #1 Look upon My Ascension into Heaven as not only a tremendously happy event, but also as being a part of the ‘pattern’ which you hope to follow. You will not rise, body and soul together, to Heaven; but you can hope for your soul’s ‘ascension to the Father’ when you die, and, later, for the resurrection of your body.
T:1640 #2 Trust in My powerful help. Hope for perfection, because of which you will be able to see Me clearly - straight away - after death, in Heaven, unlike those Holy Souls who still experience an apparent ‘absence of God’. Souls who have been faithful, yet who die imperfect, are not in fact kept from My Presence. But a man’s sins can seem like a mountain of boulders before him: a mountain which obscures the sight of My beautiful and comforting Presence, and which shuts out the Light of Heaven. (WC:1640)
T:1640 #3 Never imagine that I have abandoned imperfect souls who - after death - are undergoing purification. I support each precious soul; indeed, none of them would exist were it not for My Love and My sustaining work.
REALLY PRESENT WITH YOU.
T:1641 #1 Rejoice in your faith, which causes you to believe in the power of My death and Resurrection, and to take part in the Offering of My Holy Sacrifice. Truly, I am with you during the Holy Mass, after the Consecration. I am risen and glorious, wholly beyond pain, death and decay. You meet Me here in My perfection; I am the God-man Who is longing to help you and Who longs for you all to know and love Me.
T:1641 #2 Consider the manner of My being-Really-Present amongst you. My Presence here is Real, but sacramental; and to help you to understand how the manner of this ‘Presence’ differs - let us say - from My true and visible presence among My disciples, during My life on earth, you might picture Me now as really standing before you, yet as standing a short distance away: separated from you by a small chasm; and that chasm represents the pain of your not seeing My bodily form, when you know that I am very close to you in the Blessed Sacrament. You can be certain that even though the appearance of bread and wine remains, the bread and wine have been changed into My Sacred Body and Blood, and - by that change - I am made Really Present before you. (WC:1641)
T:1641 #3 Rejoice that you can meet Me in the sanctuary, and that when you do so you meet the Saviour Who gives you not only His Real, risen and glorious Presence; whenever we meet, thus, I enable you to touch and to ‘meet’ every aspect of the life of One Who is both God and man. It is because My Divine nature is perfect and unchanging that you can reach out to Me - at every meeting - confident of being able to explore, in prayer and through the Liturgy, every mystery, event and aspiration of My life. Through the Holy Mass - in and through My Real Presence here - I make present to you every age and incident of My life on earth, as well as the graces and the Glory of My Divine Life and Love.
T:1641 #4 Learn to meet Me in all the important incidents of My life on earth. It is true that our friendship and your knowledge of Me are based upon faith and not upon clear sight. However, your faith can assure you that I am Present with you in the Eucharist, and that when you meet me ‘in Person’, in such intimacy, you are ‘touching’ every incident of My life. It is as if you are going back to make real contact with the time of My Passion. It is as if you can see Me standing before you - at the far side of a little chasm; and you are within reach of many incidents of My life; here I am, before you, in My public ministry, and in My boyhood and even in My babyhood; you can rejoice at being able to come so close to every aspect of My life, not being ‘shut off’ from contact with My earthly life just because you live on earth many centuries after Me.
T:1641 #5 Realise why it is quite all right for you to pray to Me under any one of various titles; anyone who prays to the ‘Infant Jesus’ or to the ‘Wounded Christ’ is truly approaching Me as I am, since My earthly life is eternally ‘available’ within My Divine Person, in prayer.
‘TOUCHING’ MY LIFE’S MYSTERIES.
T:1641 #6 Realise the tremendous importance of your knowing that you can ‘touch’ Me - through My Real Presence - in every incident of My earthly life. Whenever you are with Me Who am Really Present in the Blessed Sacrament, you are present to Me as I am, now that I am glorified; but you are present to Me, also, as I offer My Sacrifice on Calvary. The significance of this - for example - is that when, as usual, you say to Me: “Thankyou for dying for me,” you can know that you are thanking Me during My dying! Similarly, whenever you are present to Me, here, on My feast-days - for example on the feasts of My Nativity, My Baptism or of My Resurrection - you can ‘touch’ My life in each Mystery, and therefore you can receive the graces which arose from a particular incident. Also, you are enabled - bit by bit, thus, as the Church’s year unfolds - to thank Me for the whole of My life on earth!
T:1642 #1 Look within your own soul, in prayer, in order to find Me from moment to moment, especially when you are travelling or whenever you have been drawn out of your usual routine. I am always with you, here within your soul; therefore whenever you ‘enter’ your soul, through prayer, as if to move beyond or ‘through’ your soul, you can meet Me in eternity! Truly, the ‘Door’ to Heaven lies within; and whenever you enter within your soul, you can be sure of finding Me, your Saviour, since you belong to Me.
T:1642 #2 Never doubt My Love for you, which is constant and unchanging. You can be sure that - in My Real Presence and in My Person - “I am the same Lord,” in every church which you enter in order to greet Me in the Blessed Sacrament.
LESSONS FROM MY MOTHER.
T:1643 #1 Never underestimate the importance of My holy Mother Mary both in My own life and in yours. As we celebrate her Assumption into Heaven, you can see that I gaze upon her with great admiration - just as I gaze admiringly upon all faithful souls who have come to live with Me forever and to share Heaven’s special joys. But you can admire her and be grateful to her for a particular reason, which is that everything that you have experienced of My kindness was once learned by Me as I imitated My holy Mother, during My childhood. It is true that, in Me, human kindness is ‘coupled’ with Divine Love, but your Heavenly Father is confirming the important influence upon Me of My Mother’s teaching and example as He says to you now that:
“Jesus, son of Mary, is like Mary.”
T:1643 #2 Look at Me, your beloved Saviour, as I lean towards you, in our Holy Communion, and as I show you by My kindness just how important to Me - during My earthly life - was the good example of My Mother Mary. When you see these good things, such as My tender behaviour towards you, My smiles and kindly gestures, with My tactful silences, My consoling embraces and My gentle invitations it is as though you can ‘see’ My holy Mother; and conversely, as you see evidence of My Mother’s care, concern and affection, through your study of Holy Scripture and of Sacred Tradition, you have a ‘picture’, as it were, of Myself at work. She and I bear an extraordinary resemblance to one another, both in our appearance and in our interior dispositions. (WC:1643)
T:1644 Count on Me for help. I cannot fail to help you when you are trying to do the work which I have entrusted to you, and when you are asking for My help. Nor can I fail to help you when - by My own Spirit - I have inspired someone to question you about our work, and to record what you have to say about prayer, and about our friendship, and about Salvation.
T:1645 Don’t imagine that I leave you alone to do My work. I Who am all-powerful and Who can move and change minds and hearts am even now bringing about various changes within My Church - in certain places and people and attitudes - for the sake of the work which I am doing through you. I am working these changes because it is My Will that honour is given to the work which you are doing, and also to you. This is only to ensure the success of My work; it is not because you deserve praise, as you know. But I will allow you to be crowned with honour since this will encourage other people, and since you will offer all this honour to Me, as your prayer.
T:1646 Never be discouraged by the quietness of certain periods of prayer, when there are no evident signs of intimacy between us. You should rejoice in our peaceful and silent union, during prayer, since your faith can assure you of My unchanging Love. You know that I love to be with people who spend all their time trying to please Me. I am truly with you, all the time, whether or not I enlighten you or speak to you, and no matter how disturbing might be your fluctuating feelings or your unpredictable bodily weaknesses!
T:1647 Never fear that your little sacrifices are too tiny to be offered to the Father. Every little sacrifice which you choose to unite to My tremendous Offering - and thereby to offer to the Father - is of infinite worth; and this is precisely because it is offered through Me, your Saviour, and with Me, and “in” Me, in our union of life and love and will and heart; and by ‘union of heart’ I mean our shared heart’s desire, which is to please our Heavenly Father.
FOLLOWING THE PATH.
T:1648 #1 Don’t fear opposition and mockery, as you strive to make known to some degree My work in your life, and My teachings. I delight in your efforts to share with others your joy in My friendship and your knowledge of My loving designs. You have not been deceived, during your daily life and prayer, as I have unrolled this special task before you. Truly, it is I - Jesus Christ your Lord - Whom you see within your soul in Holy Communion. It is I Who now live in Glory Who am teaching and training you for this work.
T:1648 #2 Be confident! I cannot fail to reward someone who tries, above all, to do My Will. It is the heart’s efforts and yearnings which ‘count’, when someone is making constant and sincere efforts to obey Me and to remain faithful; so you can be sure that your little faults and innate weaknesses don’t distress Me. Rather, I admire your goodwill.
T:1648 #3 Move forward peacefully, to do My work. In your condition of real weakness you can see simplicity as the key to doing everything serenely and joyfully.
T:1648 #4 Look towards Me, as you press on with your work. You are longing to make Me known; so keep your eyes fixed on Me and on My wishes, if you wish to succeed in your aim. Don’t be distracted or halted by various disturbances, activities or loud opinions at either side of your path as you walk towards Me.
T:1648 #5 Put your trust in Me and in My plans. As I told you once before, My plans come to fruition when people, places and things have all been prepared by Me for a certain moment of fruition - a moment which I have chosen. As an example of My planning, notice how inappropriate would have been a wider knowledge of My ‘teachings’, in recent years. Your need, then, was for occasional quiet and reliable priestly counsel; and I provided this through My Providential care. Now that the work is so advanced, however, you can see that the newly-appointed priest who has just arrived will - because of his health and vigour - be able to handle the disturbances and interruptions to parish life which will arise.
T:1648 #6 Look clearly at your life, and see why it is that I have given you so much work to do. Don’t be bashful. You know that it is not because of any goodness in you that I have chosen you but because of your submission to Me, in and after your repentance. I have poured My gifts upon you in the ‘measure’ in which you have opened your heart to receive them. Only because you gave up your life - that is, your own hopes and ambitions - in order to do My work, and because you have submitted to My action and influence, have you ‘permitted’ Me to give you My Life and My graces, lavishly.
T:1648 #7 Share with others this knowledge about My graces and your freedom. Picture the soul as being like a perfect sphere in which is seen a long split down one side. Bright rays of My grace and Light are pouring upon that sphere, but those rays can pierce the soul’s inner darkness only at the soul’s consent. It is a spiritual law that each one of you receives from Me the amount of grace which exactly corresponds with the ‘opening-up’ of your heart to Me, freely. A little opening-of-the-heart draws a little of My grace within, whereas total trust in Me and a complete opening-of-the-heart to Me and to My Will enables Me to fill the soul entirely with My Light. (WC:1648)
T:1648 #8 Understand the importance of Mission. Since a soul’s joy depends on its freely choosing to open up to My Divine Light, you can see that there is a real need for Mission. Only through Missionary work can the knowledge of My grace be spread, and can the hearts of needy people be made aware of their current state of darkness and of the shortness of time.
T:1648 #9 Don’t misunderstand the meaning of My Divine Mercy. People who remain in spiritual darkness are not being denied My Divine Mercy. No one is denied Mercy who asks for it. However, one who will not ‘open’ to Love shows that he is therefore not accepting Mercy; it is as though My attributes cannot be separated; whoever wants to receive Love or Mercy or justice or wisdom or joy must be prepared to receive all of these things, since they - with others - all stem from My Divine nature.
T:1648 #10 Understand what terrible things are hard-heartedness and self-love. One whose heart is ‘shut’ does not allow My lavish gifts - nor even My Mercy - to pour within.
T:1649 #1 Believe in My Love for you, and in our friendship.
T:1649 #2 Don’t worry about your unworthiness to speak out on My behalf. There’s no need for you to think that you are impertinent when you say quite truthfully that because of your faith in Me, and despite all the dangers, you are making your way into Eternity. Although it is true that dangers lie all about you, you are just like a child who is carefully but happily making her way to the far side of a vast lake by following a pathway made of stepping-stones which rise above the water’s surface. It is I Who have planned your journey and have placed a pathway for you to follow, a way which will be safe so long as you remain purposeful and alert. (WC:1649)
T:1650 #1 Never cease to be grateful for what I have done for you: for what I did at the ‘Last Supper’ and for what I did by My Crucifixion and death.
T:1650 #2 Realise how determined I was to endure My sufferings, and to give My life in order to save you. What courage I needed for My preparations! Even as I sat with My Apostles, and held up the cup of wine, and gave thanks, and changed the wine - even as I spoke about that cup of My Blood - it was as though I could see before Me a deep pit into which I was going to descend, to be crucified. This “pit of suffering” was constantly before Me, as I dealt calmly with My friends, and established the pattern of the Sacred Banquet through which - here, today - you can meet Me and can also remember My Passion. (WC:1650)
T:1651 #1 See how lavishly I reward you, when you ask for the courage to fulfil My wishes. By your obedience today, “you have done well, Lizzie.” You know how important it was that you acquaint your ‘new’ priest with My work in your life; and I know what it cost you to do so. But I assure you that I never fail to reward you for your efforts to be faithful and brave in My service.
YOUR HOPE OF RESURRECTION.
T:1651 #2 Let Me help you in your understanding of a Mystery, as you pray the Rosary and ponder My Resurrection from the dead. The meaning which I wish you to draw from your meditation is this: that people who believe in Me and who have been joined - like yourself - to My Life, need no longer live in fear of death, since I will do for you the wonderful thing which has been done in Me; your souls will leap up towards Me after death; and then, at the Last Day, I will raise you up, that is, I will raise up your bodies, also!
T:1651 #3 Consider the consequence of a firm belief in the Resurrection of the dead: what threats can frighten you away from living-out your faith, if even the thought of death cannot frighten you?
T:1652 #1 Persevere with your writing and speaking. Truly, I have chosen you to speak out My truths to My Church in this country; and the uproar which is to be expected - when people question even more loudly everything to do with Catholic life and teachings - will not be long delayed. However, I Myself will help you to endure it.
T:1652 #2 Be aware that anyone who has any prominence in My Church, and who offers ‘teachings’ and encouragement to others, must be especially faithful, watchful and dutiful, and should remain always poised to welcome Me and to welcome My Will.
THE LIFE OF GRACE.
T:1653 #1 Be grateful that I have led you to reveal your every thought to Me in prayer, with every scrap of foolishness and self-love. It is through such trust in Me that you allow Me to lead you, in prayer, to your Heavenly Father. Listen to His teaching:
DON’T BE AFRAID.
I DELIGHT IN YOUR CONFESSION OF SIN AND FOOLISHNESS:
AN ACT OF HUMILITY, WHICH YOU OFFERED FOR MY GLORY,
IN PRAYER.
THROUGH IT, I ELEVATE YOUR SOUL’S GAZE;
A VISTA HAS OPENED UP AHEAD,
AND YOU GLIMPSE MY DIVINE GLORY.
AS YOU CAN SEE, WONDERFUL THINGS HAPPEN
IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
- IN THE INNER LIFE OF GRACE -
NO MATTER HOW ‘RESTRICTED’ THE EARTHLY LIFE
OF ONE WHO TRIES TO LOVE AND SERVE ME.
WHEN ANYONE LONGS TO GIVE ME GLORY, AND
- OUT OF LOVE FOR ME -
MAKES EVEN THE SMALLEST ACT OF HUMILITY,
THE PATH TO HEAVEN IS MADE CLEARER
FOR THE ONE WHO PRAYS
AND FOR ALL WHOM SHE CARRIES IN HER HEART.
(WC:1653)
T:1653 #2 NEVER FORGET THAT THE GREATEST WORKS IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
ARE INTERIOR;
THEY ARE ALSO FRUITFUL AND GLORIOUS,
EVEN IF NO-ONE BUT MYSELF KNOWS ABOUT SUCH EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF GRACE!
LOOK UPON EVERYTHING HURTFUL, WHETHER LARGE OR SMALL,
AS BEING PRECIOUS,
THOUGH ONLY BECAUSE OF ITS POTENTIAL FRUITFULNESS.
T:1653 #3 WELCOME, FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST MY SON,
EVERY SNUB OR HUMILIATION, EVERY BRIEF EMBARRASSMENT OR SORROW,
AND EVERY LITTLE PANG AT THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR SINFULNESS.
EVERY SINGLE HURT CAN BE WELCOMED, FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST, YOUR SAVIOUR,
WHO HAS SET YOU AN EXAMPLE.
EVERY HURT CAN BE BORNE PATIENTLY, OUT OF LOVE FOR HIM,
AND THEREFORE CAN BE OFFERED TO ME, YOUR FATHER, FOR MY GLORY:
OFFERED TO ME IN UNION WITH HIS OFFERING AND SACRIFICE.
THUS, YOU CAN IMITATE CHRIST, WHO WAS PATIENT AND OBEDIENT
DURING HIS LIFE ON EARTH.
T:1654A #1 Consider the meaning of My Love for you, and the depth of this Divine Love. The Love with which I love each one of you is personal and tender and infinitely caring. This Love is real, and sincere; and that is why I am saying to you, now, after your recent efforts and embarrassments: ‘Have you any idea of how grateful I am for all the work you do for Me?”
T:1654A #2 Be encouraged by My kind words. What an incentive to be willing to bear sufferings for My sake: that I, your God, am grateful to you My beloved and loving creatures!
T:1654B Don’t be disturbed if I balance My words of encouragement about your efforts to please Me with warnings about self-satisfaction. The least bit of pride or self-righteousness within your soul puts you in danger, since the least scrap of pride begins to cut out My Light from your soul’s interior as surely as if a circular stone were to be rolled across the mouth of a tomb, or as surely as when the sun is eclipsed by the moon. (WC + OIL:1654)