Jeanne le Royer / Sister of the Incarnation
OPINION FROM THE PUBLISHER
ON THIS FOURTH VOLUME
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The Sister of the Nativity, as seen in the third volume, made to write, about the end of her life, at a time when she did not could no longer have correspondence with his Director, two big Addition or supplement to the three volumes Previous. Mr. Genêt, to whom these writings were handed over in 1802, on his return from England, by the confidant nuns of the Sister, who died four years later in the odor of holiness, says, speaking of this supplement, which remained for him to write, that it is a species of Deuteronomy in two notebooks, where the Sister returns many things she had already said, and that by therefore he will be obliged to abbreviate a lot, in However, retaining new ideas with developments which seemed to him the most worthy of preservation (1).
(1) Last eight years of the Sister, fourth epoch, 3rd vol. , pag. 452.
It was natural to conclude with these words of M. Genêt (who died only in 1817, that is, fifteen years after his return from England), that he had actually carried out his project, and that he had added to his work an abridged wording of these additional workbooks. But whatever it was The cause, it is certain that he did not. All our research in this regard have been useless.
(II)
We have in our hands these notebooks, but not written, and as they were dictated by the Sister of the Nativity. We put them back as part of the entire work, which became our property. In addition, Madame de Sainte-Magdeleine (Superior and one of the two confidant nuns of the Sister of the Nativity), sent us one second copy, which it certifies to be accurate and genuine, as will see it at the end of this volume.
To this room important, the authenticity of which cannot be revoked In doubt (1), is attached a no less authentic act, which is to us. came from the family of Mr. Binel (2), in which the Sister of the Nativity has ended its days, and which expresses its last wills in relation to these additional notebooks.
Here is this act word to word, as it was sent to us.
"The day before his death (of the Sister of the Nativity), or two days Previously, a damsel who had his trust, being went to see, she told him in particular what she had already entrusted to Madame des Séraphins, so that these two witnesses told Mr. Genêt to his return.
The Lord she said, let me know her will on them. unwritten notebooks. His will, therefore, is that they are handed over to Mr. Genêt, or in his absence, to every other minister of the Lord filled with the same spirit, so that he writes them and subtracts from them everything he will find defective, either in the terms or in the expressions, which I often do not hear, either in the language French, which I never learned.
» In Church alone, that is to say, to his ministers, they must be Given. The Lord's will is that they should not appear as they are, but that they are written in the Same spirit as the book.
As I have not of other will than that of God, and that I want to die daughter submissive of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, such as are therefore my last wills, which I pray in, grace to transmit to the Church, that is, to those of his ministers filled with his spirit, not wanting him to there seems to be nothing of me, (or rather of God, that does not use a instrument so weak, that to derive its glory from it), which is not approved by this holy Church. »
According to these last wishes of the Sister of the Nativity, We thought it was first and foremost our duty to have the notebooks in question examined. Accordingly We were quick to communicate them to several ecclesiastics distinguished by their talents, by their virtues and theological knowledge.
After a ripe Examination it seemed that, in addition to the danger of altering the meaning of the author, trying to edit or write a piece of writing of that nature, it would, on the one hand, be more in line with the truth, and on the other more pleasing to the reader, to let the Sister herself speak; and that if its humility led her to want to cover up and hide In the form of a borrowed writing, the glory of God asked that his thoughts be presented to the public without any foreign envelope. Besides, the Sister request to be tried by the Ministers of the Lord and by the Church. For this it must be heard herself; and the latter writings, which are properly his own, will help to pronounce a judgment on the whole Book: maybe even God's purpose that God willed them to have stayed so long in oblivion without being written.
It was therefore judged that they would not. Thus, we have confined ourselves to this which was absolutely necessary, in order to be able to Deliver to print.
1°. Besides faults of spelling in large numbers, as we think, we have corrected Some expressions too shocking against the language, some vicious constructions, a few words transposed, forgotten, or repeated unnecessarily, perhaps more by the fault of the secretaries than by that of the Sister.
2°. Contents scattered in the notebooks, and dictated by the Sister, depending on whether they presented themselves to her, were gathered in several articles divided by paragraphs, with headings and marginal notes.
But these slight Corrections and approximation of materials in the same article did not change the style of the Sister, that we will find, it is true, often innocent and even diffuse (as must be that of a poor villager from Brittany, who says herself that she never learned the French language), but which will please the reader, as much by its vivacity, its naivety and its simplicity, only by its strength, energy and even his sublimity, especially when the Sister tries to reveal what she discovered in the light of God.
Thus, in the latter volume, the Sister of the Nativity will show herself as she is is, without veil and without cloud; He will be heard speaking without an interpreter and without means; it will be known; She will be judged.
We will finish this collection by some letters that the Sister had written and address to his confessors in the last years of his life, and which contain important things.
Finally, we do not guarantee all that is contained in this volume, that in this sense, that we ensure that it is exactly in accordance with the notebooks
surviving manuscripts in our hands, and that we are ready to communicate to those of the Ecclesiastics who would like consult them. Moreover, we refrain from making any judgment. on these manuscripts. We give them to the public as bound necessarily to the work of M. Genêt, and as A very interesting part of the writings of the Sister of the Nativity. We believe we have enough fulfilled his last wishes; and with it we let us abandon this supplement, like the previous volumes, to the examination of theologians and the judgment of the Church.
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LIFE AND REVELATIONS
FROM
THE ON THE NATIVITY.
SUPPLEMENT.
LATEST WRITINGS DICTATED BY THE, SISTER OF THE NATIVITY, SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH.
ARTICLE FIRST.
Traits remarkable of the Sister's life, narrated by herself.
§. I.
Light extraordinary that the Sister receives from God from her more tender, childhood. Impressions made in his soul by First instructions from his mother.
I come back to a subject which I think I have explained only very lightly in the other volume, and I will report what God manifested to me. I do so with the intention of making myself known to the Church, that she may judge if I am not deceived in all the extraordinary lights I am obliged to to have people write.
Has Two and a half years she is at the conversation of three men attached to the present life.
Here is the first extraordinary light which God gave me, as a child, at the age of two and a half years and a few weeks, as well what Our Lord tells me, because I didn't know how old I had. I was deprived of reason, so that I knew nothing of God, nor in God; I didn't know who had created and brought me into the world.
This is what happened to me in the paternal house, where I was the only child. There is found one day three men whom I did not know at all; I don't live there Neither my father nor my mother: these three men were dinner's ready; They drank, laughed and entertained. In the middle of their conversation one of the three said: Ah! that we would be happy if we did not die! I was by the bench, close to one of these men, who was sitting on the bench, and the other two vis-à-vis.
God manifests itself to it in the form of a globe of fire.
I was listening through a supernatural light what these names said: at the same time time I saw the eyes of the body, and still better the eyes of the soul, To appear in the house a globe of fire as big as a barrel. It was suspended in the air, and it was springing from it. rays so pure and sweet, that they seemed to have a rapport with a rainbow. In that moment, God spoke to me from the midst of this globe of light with which he was surrounded; then I turned my back on the three men, I stood straight against each other. the voice that spoke to me, and said to me, "Listen, My dear child, what these men say; They talk like Foolish. I am the Creator of heaven and
earth; I created everything: I have created a beautiful kingdom to give them the possession; I adopted them for my children, and they don't do not want to die to come to me who would fill them with A thousand delights! »
I understood, by this little words, that it was my God, my Creator. In this Supreme and sovereign divinity, I recognized this vast universe populated by creatures that God had drawn of nothingness and adopted for his children. I see that all reasonable beings owe him honor, glory, adoration, love and gratitude; that they must pay him the tribute of this the temporal life that we have here on earth, in order to unite ourselves with He by his love in happy eternity, where We will be filled with eternal bliss with him in his kingdom. I knew that such would be the sharing of those who would be faithful to him, and those who would be faithful to him. unfaithful and who would not correspond to his love, would be separated from him, and would have no share with him in his kingdom for all eternity. I did not know then that God had created hell for the wicked; I thought they would be punished enough for being rejected from God for eternity.
While I was in the amazement and admiration of so many wonders, God Continuing to speak to me, said to me with tender and affectionate love: " And you, my child, will you not die well to come and unite with Me in my love, in the bliss of my kingdom? » In this moment God enlightened my understanding and all my interior of such a bright light and love so pure and so tender, that I felt attracted and as a litter in his Divinity, by ardent and extreme desires to want to die on the hour to unite myself entirely with My god.
Sound desire to die to unite with God.
I did not answer by articulated words, but only by movements and the desires of my heart, which expressed itself thus: " My Lord and my God, no delay: just now. I give myself and dedicate myself everything to you, and as I am in the being you have given me; I make it to you the Sacrifice with my life, ready to die there just now for Your love and to unite me with you. I said these words with vehement ardor, and I believed that God, who is so good, would in the moment grant my desires; But, alas! God let me know that the time was not not yet come; that he would grant me my prayer; but
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that was previously needed be faithful to His graces and resign myself at his will.
O God! What a sacrifice I had to do it, seeing that God still wanted to leave me live! Understanding well that the Divinity was going to disappear at My eyes, I resigned myself to this great cross to the love of God, abandoning me entirely to Him in all things, and determined to live as much that he would like. Immediately the Divinity also disappeared quickly than lightning. God, however, left in my inside a light that almost carried me continually towards him with tender desires and affectionate.
I had the opportunity to recognize many times in the course of my life that God had done to me, from that time, graces which were calls free graces. It is this light of which he illuminated my interior, it is she who has me always led, and it was in her that J. C. appeared to me a great Many times, spoke to me, showed me, explained to me and commanded me to to write. I, in order to obey God, do write down all that God himself dictates to me in his Divine light.
Sound zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
This light acted in me, though a weak child: she has as her principle the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The glory of God made so much impression from my early childhood, that I had willed and desired, for the glory of God and his love, die every day by a thousand kinds of torment, and that God, by his power, would have raised me up the same day, so that, the next day, I would have suffered again the Torment and death, so insatiable were desires that I had for the glory of God. I cried out: Good God! My god! not for one day or two, but until end of my life, Lord, or rather until the end of the world.
Here is yet another desire that I had, desire which tended to the zeal of the salvation of souls (the principle was the love of God) that Our Lord had redeemed by his precious blood; I wanted my body would have been cut in pieces, and the good Lord would have changed them into so many tongues, who, would have been abducted and dispersed in the whole universe, to cry aloud: Do penance, or you will all perish!
First instructions from his mother; effects they produce in its soul.
At the age of three or four years, I cannot say precisely which of the two ages, my mother, who was a Good Christian, began to teach me my prayers. When she made me say Our Father, who are in heaven, I said to myself: it is the one I've seen and who speaks to me sometimes. I was asking My mother what it meant, and if he was our Father; My mother took the opportunity to relate the adorable mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and the unity of the three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. She taught me the mysteries of our holy religion, making me know only the Son was the second person of the Most Holy Trinity; that he had incarnated in the womb of the Most Holy Virgin; that he had become a man and a little child like us Other; that he was a man god and a god man; finally she instructed me on the whole doctrine of the Catechism of the Little Children children. I found this doctrine admirable, and I saw, through the light that I possessed in myself, that all it was about the God who had spoken to me.
My mother taught me that there was hell, torments, and demons that tormented the reprobates, and that there was a paradise filled with all kinds of delights, where one enjoyed God, eternally. She also introduced me to that it would be the vouchers that would be received in this place of delights, especially those who would have liked God with all their hearts.
Fear that she has to be damned.
When my mother would have explained to me the different sins mortal and venial, especially on commandments of God and the Church, I found very unfortunate that despite a good will we were subject capable of offending God, of getting lost and damning himself: this saddened me in my little interior, and it was after this sadness that the Devil began his first attack on me by suggesting me with strong impressions that I had no use for rejoicing so much while waiting for see God; that I would never see it, and that I would commit all the sins that had been explained to me.
Like the light of Faith in Gospel Truths Is Not Faith was discovering to me that as the mysteries were explained to me, in the time that the devil seduced me by these fears, I did not know that the right God had established sacraments in the Holy Church, and especially that of penance which reconciles the sinner to God when he has his heart contrite and humiliated. That is why in this great sorrow I couldn't find anything solid
to console me. Without cease I was beaten down by this threat: Thou shalt be damned, you will never see God!
Education of his mother on the general judgment increases his Fears.
In this sentence, he found that my mother instructed me that the soul, to the hour of death, appeared to the judgment of God, who judged it depending on what she had. Good or badly done. In the excess of my I seize this opportunity, and I say to myself :Certainly
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since after death one appears before God, I know him, I know well that he love me, I will throw myself at his feet, I will ask him for forgiveness With such a good heart, I will force him so much, that he will not separate me. not of him, and that he will draw me with him into his kingdom. I don't I didn't realize that I was falling into error, because I was not not yet educated, and my reason was not yet quite advanced. This thought consoled me and gave me a Strong support against the devil. When I received further instructions, I recognized my mistake, I asked very much humbly forgiveness to God, and I confided in it.
Sound Terror and her terror as thunder rumbled.
Here's what happened to me During the course of this sentence: as my mother had spoken to me of the general judgment and signs which were to Precede, thunders and earthquakes to the continuation of which God would appear visibly to judge the men; and as the devil had imprinted on me a great terror in the soul with regard to Our Lord, by constantly telling me that he would damn me; all This was caused that when he made thunder and lightning, I was transfixed with fear; I was telling myself : This is the general judgment! This is the good God who will appear to judge me and maybe to separate forever from him!.. All summer, I felt such great fright, when the thunder rumbled, that I was going to retire during the storm to a small corner from home, waiting for the Lord; I looked out the door or through the window, half-transie, if I would not see
Our Lord come, my eyes being continually fixed towards the firmament. When the storm had passed, and the weather was Having become serene, I made small leaps, rejoicing and saying to myself: It will not yet be for today; I’ll take a rain check.
With time and reason This fear dissipated as I became more educated and that my mother had begun to lead me with her at Mass and catechism. This was how The reason and light of faith took more and more the plunge. over it, and delivered me from all evil terrors. founded from childhood, to make me enter into truths stronger.
I have this written to know of those who lead me if I am not deceived of the devil.
§. II.
The Sister, after having long kept secret all that God operated in it, is obliged to discover it and even to have it written. His early writings were burned, and after a long persecution that she suffers on this subject, she writes from New.
I deal here with the secrets inviolables that I have kept from my childhood until time where God wanted me to discover my interior to my confessor; I am still dealing with the sentences that have been handed down to me caused by several nuns, mainly by a superior and two confessors.
The Sister keeps a deep secret about her interior.
I will say here that it is as a miracle, that a two-and-a-half-year-old child was able to keep a perpetual secrecy about all that was going on in him, and about everything he saw in God, even on several apparitions what our divine Savior did to me at the age of seven to eight, or eight to nine years. I cannot fix precisely age; But what I do know is that it was in my childhood. I never told anyone about it. I don't seemed no more moved or different from others children. I kept the secret to such an extent, that I did not say a word of it to my confessor, unless I had he not admitted to having offended the good Lord on any subject. relating to these extraordinary things.
To make it well known How I came to account for my interior to the point of being able to write what was happening in I have to say that a year or two after I had pronounced My religious vows in our community, I believed although the confessor had to be told only his sins. I would have thought I would have done wrong if I had given him an account of my conscience, Especially since I believed that everyone was driven by the same lights as me; but when the time was When God came, God found a way to make me known to my confessor.
She is obliged to make known what God works in it.
A day before the party of the Ascension of Our Lord I presented myself to be to confess. The confessor, against his custom, arrested me. a moment to preach to me about the triumph of Our Lord. The speeches of God's ministers always made me a lot printing. When he had stopped speaking, I, without knowing What I was going to say, and without even wanting to speak, I resumed on the same subject he had begun, and I began to speak with admiration of triumphs and Rejoicing caused by Our Lord leaving the earth to ascend to heaven. The priest listens to me for some time time, then he said to me: My Sister, I want you to come back to me. find such a day, to realize your consciousness. Me who had never done it before, I was very surprised. However, remembering that one had to obey, I withdrew in Recommending
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This case to Our Lord, who made me hear that it was his will.
So I surrendered to the time marked with my confessor; I reported to him of all that the good Lord inspired me to say to him. As I do Okay, my confessor told me that we had to come back for a short time. after. I made him very difficulty, alleging Several pretexts that were suggested to me by the artifice of the devil, who did not want me to go to confesses for this subject, claiming that it would be the cause of my damnation. When my confessor saw that I was reasoning, he ordered it. I withdrew with little satisfaction. The devil me made him suffer more than before. What does it matter? I
Go back to do Obedience, I gave my confessor such an account. that God asked for it. Before withdrawing, I prayed to him with implication. to relieve me of his ordinance, so that I may no longer be obliged to give him an account of my conscience; It was causing me too much pain from the demons in my interior. This voucher Confessor granted me my request, which gave me satisfaction. The demons ceased their stubbornness to fight me. I found myself more at peace with myself. This lasted about two months, at the end of which Our Lord, at My communion, strictly commanded me to go and give an account of my conscience to my confessor, as much as he would judge at and to tell him on his behalf that he had ordered me. He received me kindly, and made me understand that it was absolutely necessary for the glory of God and the salvation of my soul; that I had to be driven by my confessor, lest I should be deceived by the devil. Since then I have always obeyed under the guidance of my confessors.
Before I withdraw, my confessor told me that he would bother me only as little as possible, to cause of community work; that it was necessary to go to confesses on Sundays or feasts, and he added that if I knew how to write, he would have forced me to do it.
For ten to eleven years that he was director of our community I him gave an account of my conscience. It was taken from us by Monsignor our Bishop to be rector. Before to leave me he ordered me to give an account of my conscience to the one who would come to replace him, and likewise to all the others after him.
One of his confessors obliges him to write what God has written for him communicated internally.
This first confessor Having therefore withdrawn, I addressed myself to him who came to his place. Shortly after, he ordered me to come on find it in secret, provided I get permission from my superior, because he wanted to write the surrender of account of my conscience; But alas! It didn't take long. I will not report here all the obstacles, all the difficulties caused on both sides, and annoyances which occurred. I saw in God that they had not raised me up. than by demons. God also commanded me to continue doing to write, because it was his will. We were forced to stop our interviews for some time. In at this interval a missionary came to make us a retreat. My confessor put me in his hands during this retreat, and made me a commandment to give him an account of my conscience. For its part, He omitted nothing that could instruct him of all.
The troubles and of all the difficulties arising in the community, when she realized that I was too long in the confessional; and he showed him the beginning of the writings that We had done it together.
At the end of the The Missionary said to me: I absolutely want you to do Write, and I command you to do so. If your supervisor commands the opposite, do not obey him, because my command is above his. I represented him with humility that there were nuns who would notice this, and that it would cause further unrest in the community. The Missionary replied that I had to go in the evening, after the work of the community, and when the nuns meet would be removed from their cells, which happened to eight o'clock in the evening. He gave me permission for eight hours up to ten only.
Persecution that she feels on this occasion.
But alas! that the The devil wreaked havoc! He raised up six to seven nuns to watch and monitor by several places in the vicinity of the confessional. On the other hand, demons filled the mind and imagination with fears and terrors, by insinuating to me that I offended God, and that I was giving opportunity to offend him. My confessor always kept me going, and the demon worked on his side to prevent writing.
Demons, by their artifices, used several worried nuns and curious who, as I have said, joined some old whose character was singular. Misfortune was that mine was contrary to them. Demons triumphed to see such a beautiful cabal working at work. their profit, and they could not help but testify to me their satisfaction by their mockery.
One day I had just have it written,
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leaving the first In the confessional room, I met two or three demons in the gate, who were in ambush just like the nuns when they came to listen to me. When I see demons I was very surprised.
I stopped in front of them to see what it would become. They began to tell me: No matter how hard you try, you are discovered and we will make you stop writing. It is such a one, which we use, which come and listen to you. Then they laughed at me at throat spread and with so much force that they were rolling on top of each other. I withdrew from front of them with contempt and saying in myself that they were liars and that what they were doing was only for scare me.
Order to stop writing.
I told all this to My confessor, who told me that I always had to continue. The The nuns I mentioned wrote a letter in the style of their character and unbeknownst to the Superior, and this letter was sent to the Superior major. One day, before the answer came At the confessor, I met the former nun who led the Cabal and that the demon had named me as being the one who listened to me. I say this to my confessor, who replied, "Sister, let us stop writing; I'm going to send a letter to the Major Superior. In the meantime, My confessor was ordered to stop writing; for Then everything was abandoned.
Although I was an object of mockery and derision for the nuns, of whom I have spoken, I was delighted and firmly believed that everything It was over forever. My confessor was attacked dangerously from a disease of languor; I feared that the papers which he had in his hands, did not fall into those of his parents, who were people of the world, remembering that there are had some passages in these writings that were not suitable not to secular people.
Materials contained in writings. They are burned.
There could be two paper hands or more writings, which contained several Things about the present affairs. There were also several things that looked upon our mother the Holy Church, and which were of interest to the Lord's ministers in particular. He there was also a treatise on the love of God, which explained the difference of God's pure love and glory from the glory and self-love. God's pure love had some relation to the Song of Songs.
One day, finding myself with My confessor, I told him of my fears, saying: My Father, I think it would be better to burn these writings. He
replied that he had thought it like me, and from the very evening he set them all on fire. Shortly afterwards he died.
There was a priest of our city who was aware of these writings because My confessor showed them to him. When he had learned that everything was Burned, he had a sorrow that nothing can express. He intended to seize it after the death of my confessor.
That that the Sister suffers in this regard at the hands of the nuns, his Superior and confessors.
O my God! Is it possible to be able to explain crosses, mortifications and humiliations I have had to suffer, both at the hands of the community than that of confessors. Then came a young priest for Director of the Community. The Superior of that time had asked Monsignor the Bishop. It was the one who had maintained, the conduct of which, I have spoken above, and which had written to the Major Superior to stop to write. She imprinted early feelings against I to this new confessor, according to the opinion she had herself.
A day I had watched over a sick woman in the infirmary, this Superior urged me to lie down in a bed in this infirmary. She thought I I was sleeping, and unfortunately it was not. There was no with her than the assistants of the past time, who had me listened to in the confessional, and the new confessor, who had come to assist the dying man. I had the misfortune to hear my apology. Each of them reported its story from what they had seen or heard; but the Superior knew still more, though she knew nothing of real and real about what looked inside of my conscience, because God had forbidden me to do so. I heard the whole conversation; but what was more sensitive to my heart, I heard my Superior tell what she had learned on my account, although I had begged please, on both knees, face down, to keep the secret of what she had heard. If the confessor had been Alone present, it would not have been so much for me sensitive to hear him repeat at five or six religious, who all together made him a subject of derision. The Superior insinuated to the confessor that I should not Driving the same way or on the same footing that the former confessor, and that he should listen to me only for confess; which the confessor put into practice very well. After having heard all these speeches I was far away to open my interior to him, unless a Great necessity.
I stayed twelve years in This position, without having the slightest confidence either in confessor or in Superior, and
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tormented without ceased by the demons, who seemed to play me at the ballot. Only God knows what I had to suffer of several nuns, especially while I was under the guidance of this Superior. But what was to me The most painful thing was the reproaches of the confessors. and the confusion with which they overwhelmed me: it seemed that my divine Savior was
himself of the part, giving me orders on different things that he made me known. Go, said the Lord, I will tell you. Order that you give an account of this to your confessor. I was very convinced that I was going to be very bad received, and that he would not listen to me willingly: What does it matter? I was going. The confessor listened to me and then he said: Go and tell this to your extraordinary confessor. He was the confessor of a community of nuns: He was rough as a thistle, either in confession or when I gave him an account of my interior; what greatly weakens the confidence I had in him; I did not address to him only by reason and pure faith. Demons were constantly tormenting to leave him, telling me that the Confessions that I He was doing were bad. If I consulted God, I saw that I would hurt to change it; that he knew perfectly souls; that he was a priest of example by his piety, and which he must have known and experience. That is why, despite the contradictions and despite the temptations of the devil, I I went above all, and I continued to go to him until the a time when God commanded otherwise.
Our Lord compels him to announce to his confessor the French Revolution and the outrages that had to be made to our Holy Father the Pope.
Now here's what came to me more particularly. Our Lord made me know the state or would be reduced France by the nation, and oppression in which she would hold our holy Father the Pope, until take away his powers. Our Lord compelled me to go to report to my confessor, who, after having heard two or three words, said to me: my Sister,
Go share this with Your extraordinary confessor, who must come here on such a day.
The confessor repels her; she thinks she is Jansenist; She makes a General confession.
I went to the day marked, and I spoke if this confessor of desolation of the France: but when I had mentioned the oppression of the saint Father, from whom the nation would take away its powers, he cried out. in a way that terrifies me
: Withdraw, you don't have only sinister things to report to me. Thinking on what he had told me, to know, that I was only telling him sinister things, I did not quite understand this term of disaster, and I thought he was telling me that I was a Jansenist. I So made an examination of my whole life and my conduct in the lanes. extraordinary, and I looked upon them as the ways of the Jansenists, without discouraging me. However I looked at myself. as a deceived person, and who was, without the want, in the way of the Jansenists. Chè Ok! I said to myself, the good Lord will have mercy on me. This is my deception to discovery, I admit; I'm going to make a confession general of all false lights that have led my mind astray; I'm going to give it up, and make it penance the rest of my life. I went to find the confessor who was so harsh and so severe, and who had me so scolded for telling him things Claims. I told him I wanted to make a general confession, Because I thought I was being deceived. He consented to it. willingly. I accused myself, according to my belief, of all false lights, of all extraordinary things, and of all that that I thought was a mistake in myself, well resolved to To renounce all extraordinary things.
God communicates greater lights to him.
Here's what happened to me after a general confession; but what can the creature do when the Creator ordains and governs it! After my confession made, it seemed that God took pleasure in me give sweeter impressions of his presence, and to make me see even more clearly about all the things he wanted present.
Our Divine Savior knew well chase from my memory all the resolutions that I had taken in my coufession, and all the thoughts that I was deceived by these extraordinary ways. When this divine Saviour came, by an effect of his tender love, to call me His child, it touched me so keenly, that I gave myself all whole to him y to act and to suffer
whatever he would like. This thought impelled me so strongly in God, that I found like everything to God, and God gave himself all to me.
After twelve years of suffering, everything changes about the Sister. She made write again.
During the twelve years that took place under the guidance of these two confessors, one Gentle and the other rough, I was always in pain and suffering. fighting, having no one to tell of my sorrows, and not daring to declare them: neither to my confessors nor to my superiors. But suddenly God changed the things about me. First, I was in my hands from a superior in whom I had a lot of confidence. From our Two confessors one left us, and the other fell ill and died. He came as director of our community a missionary who had a great deal of science, doctrine and experience: my Superior undertook me to give him my confidence and to make myself known to him. I had no trouble to do it, because God made me
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feel it was his will, and that it was, so to speak, that which God had reserved for me. I did not delay, after His arrival, to make me known to him. The more I Spoke to him, the more I felt a certain ease in open my heart to him, and to tell him everything with the most Great confidence. He first wanted me to make a confession. General. I represented to him that I did not feel not needing it. He replied that she was necessary for him, in order to know me better. My Confession made, he ordered me to give him an account of my conscience, Because he wanted to write everything I told him, and he added that I had no other care but to obey. Ah! I recognized when it was the hour that the Lord had been, reserved to do his work (1), God declared himself more openly than he had done in the past, by making brighter lights in my interior, purer, sharper and more distinct on materials that he wanted me to write.
(1) This is roughly the story of Mr. Genêt, editor of the first three Volumes. It will be pleasing to the reader to hear the Sister tell it herself.
I went almost every days to find my confessor to advance our work; It does not was just pulling notes out of what I was telling him; after Whatever day or night, he wrote and wrote the subjects I had explained to him. We were going With great strides, despite the winds and thunderstorms that rose up against us, and whom the devil raised up by the means of two or three converse sisters, who gave themselves Help to examine me and follow me everywhere. One of them especially would have lost his mind out of jealousy and curiosity to know what I was going to do or say to the confessor. In addition, it spied on me when I went to the superior's house. All this was for her terrible grievances, which brought her to give me heart discharges, not only in particular, but still in public. She was throwing up everything against me. which the devil suggested to him in the soul; but No matter! I always went my train out of obedience, and supported by my confessor and my superior. When I went find my confessor in the evening, my Superior led me and remained at the door of the confessional, lest they should come listen to me; If any business prevented her from doing so, she put in his place a trusted nun who was in secret.
The Confessor is forced to flee. The work is interrupted; but she was passed on the writings which the Sister dictated to a trusted nun.
In less than seven to eight months our work was almost done; but alas! The upheavals of the nation obliged our confessor to flee. He remained for some time in France, and he ordered me to have a trusted nun write by a trusted nun, and by the order of my superior; which we did. When we had written a certain small amount, we wrote it to him We were passing into the place where he had retired.
The nation that drove him out from France he went to England, where we made him to reach our writings, as long as we find the means; but it soon came that nothing could be done. pass, and we were told not to send anything more. Having Then a small package ready, our mother said to me: My Sister, I will not take care of this package, I am too big fear of the nation's research and excavation, burn it, or Keep it, do with it as you please. I kept it.
Here's one thing particular, which showed that God protected the book. Fifteen days or three weeks later, on a Saturday morning that I was before the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord told me said in a firm voice: Go and take your package, and send it to the field. I leave just now, I take the
writings, I'm leaving to my Superior, saying to her: My mother, the Lord has told me such and such; That is the package, please send it. My Superior accomplishes on the spot what the Lord had said. The package passed so happily, that having marked to our confessor that there were some slips that we would be happy to return when he has them transcribed, some time after the sheets that we give him Requested planes arrived without having met No difficulty in the passage.
Seeing that it had so Well done, we said: We still have to write which we did. Eight days after us sent back another notebook; but we learned that the seafarers had been forced to throw at the sea many packets of letters, and other papers of consequence.
Unfortunately our Notebook was one of them: the confessor wrote to us that he had received nothing. According to this opinion we wrote no more.
§. III.
Our Lord appears to the Sister in various ways and in different forms.
I report here how Our Lord appeared to me in different ways and in various forms, without making the senses appear almost nothing External.
I come back again to my early childhood, to make the Church better known in what manner I was conducted.
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From how Our Lord appeared to the Sister.
When Our Lord appeared to me at the age of two and a half, this apparition was visible to the external senses as well as to the soul. I saw not distinctly Our Lord: I saw no by the external senses that the globe of light which surrounded the Divinity. In all apparitions, even from my earliest childhood, in all that Our Lord told me,
or made in tender, when he transported me in spirit with him this and there, and generally in all that is Arrived extraordinary, the senses for the ordinary have not been No share, or at least very little. For example, when I live Our Lord, it was not from the eyes of the body. When he told me spoken, it was not the ears of the body that heard it, it was my soul and my understanding, well, my whole interior.
He He often appeared in the form of a priest.
I will also say the forms in which Our Lord has appeared to me many times. By example, when the devil attacked me in my childhood, Our Lord appeared to me several times under the figure of a priest covered with a blade and girded with a cord, The crossed stole on the chest, finally like a priest who would dress for celebrate Holy Mass. As soon as I I saw, I threw myself towards him. His clothes were of such finesse and whiteness, that they spread Around him a great clarity.
Our Lord spoke to me Fights that I had and would have to support against the Demons. He warned me, and said, "Raise Your heart and mind to me, demons do not will do no harm. Have recourse to me, my child, I I will protect and support you in the fighting. »
I've seen it over twenty times in the figure of a priest, as I have just said. That was significant. It was to inspire me, what happened Indeed, great esteem, deep respect and singularity veneration for the Lord's ministers; and as Our Lord knew that I would have several business at To deal with them, he wanted me to be preserved from all human affection and all human respect, I do not say only at confession, but especially in interviews that I would have to have with them one-on-one. God wanted me never to wear anything human in it, but to screw them in God, and God in them.
He has often appeared to him in his natural form, and even more often, He talked to her without showing himself to her.
Our Lord has often told me appeared under his natural figure, and as he was in his mortal life with his Apostles. He has me even more often, spoken, without appearing to me and without me screwing anything, did not making that hearing and feeling in my heart the approach of his sensitive presence, as one feels, for example, the presence a friend who loves completely and tenderly, and who comes to you Visit at night. You have no fire, no candle, no friend no more. You recognize your friend by the accent of his voice, whatever you don't
Don't see. Immediately You call him by name, and the love you have for him spreads in your heart and rejoices, because you feel that your friend is present, although you do not see him. This is what happened to me with respect to Our Lord, in some apparitions that resembled Pretty much like the example I just cited.
Appearance of a shining cross, and then of Our Lord in the state where he was presented to the people by Pilate.
But here's something more particular. By the age of seven to eight, I was usually alone to keep cows in the fields and Heather. One day I found myself in a vast field; I live Suddenly come out of the firmament a great cross as could be the one where Our Lord was crucified. It seemed to me all gold, of a gold so pure and brilliant, that it flashes of lightning burst forth that were like stars. This cross began to leave the firmament and descend to earth as carried by an angel. She lowered herself into the corner of the field where I was. I ran, stretching both my arms up, as if I had wanted to receive it, and crying out aloud and all my strength: O the beautiful cross! What I repeated several times, until I was at the place where I had seen him deposited by the angel; but when I was in that place, it was no longer a cross: I saw a painting of the greatness of a man, where Our Lord was in the state in which Pilate presented him to the people, in saying: Ecce homo, this is the man. The angel held the painting standing, opposite me. I remained as a a person who is tried, convicted, and who has almost lost his life, seeing on the adorable body of my Savior only wounds and his dripping blood: it was only bruises and large black tumors; Its adorable chef was all leaden and livid. Overwhelmed with sadness at This show, I knew it was sins who had reduced him to this state. Suddenly, and without knowing how, the picture disappeared, and so did the angel; I don't Live nothing at all
: I withdrew, very distressed, to the other side. from the field from which I had left when I saw the cross.
Appearance of Our Lord in the heart of the faithful soul.
Arrival at my First place, I suddenly saw appearance In front of me a troop of angels dressed in white robes
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like snow, with gold belts and shoulder straps on which were written numbers. These angels, arranged as in a circle, supported a heart of the greatness of a man, in which seemed an opening, where Our Lord was seated As on a throne, feet towards the tip of the heart. He was dressed in royal robes, having his royal crown on the head and the scepter on the right arm. My attention was entirely to consider Our Lord in this heart. A serenity if sweet and so pleasant was spread on its face, that she inspired peace and sweetest consolation. He had his eyes downcast and kept a deep silence, like a King of Majesty; He was seated on his throne Royal: the angels carried him in triumph by singing hymns to His praise and glory. I was very surprised to all this device. I asked the Angels what all meant these things; They answered aloud, "It is our King who dwells in the heart of the truly faithful soul. See and consider, he is there as a King who governs and who governs all the powers of the soul; It is as on his throne; He commands his angels to come to the guard of this soul. There he rests in peace, he takes his dearest delights. The angels stopped with Our Lord to make me hear these things, and, when they had spoken, everything disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Appearance of Our Lord in the form of a Supreme Pontiff.
I'm still going to Another appearance is the last one I will report. I would never have finished, if it were necessary, in the course of my life, to tell only the tenth part of all the apparitions I have had of Our Lord.
One day, finding myself alone In an apartment, I saw immediately appear before me, in the middle of this apartment, a Supreme Pontiff sitting in a armchair. I did not know him. It's only since I noticed in paintings the pontifical vestments of the Holy father. I saw this Divinity clothed in this Unknown dress for me. I was left in surprise. These were not not the clothes of a simple priest; He had his tiara on the head; its face was majestic, white and vermilion; Her eyes shining with a soft brilliance imprinted love to the depths of the soul. As he was clothed with His papal clothes, I only looked at him without daring approach.
This Supreme Pontiff began to cast his eyes on me, then said to me with a look of goodness: Come to me, my child. To this word I go; but just now a touching voice and terrible was heard above my head.
Humiliate yourself! humble yourself! she shouted, and she kept screaming until she that I was at the feet of the Supreme Pontiff. I started to knees at his feet; I prostrated myself, I adored him, and then I Stood up.
This Supreme Pontiff seeing trembling and seized with fear, began to take my hands and caress me like a good father caresses her child. How I heard this screaming herald Always, humble yourself! I withdrew my little hands from between hers to prostrate me at his feet, which I kissed with respectful love. This Supreme Pontiff tells me to get up, and began to caress me even more tenderly in rubbing the cheeks of his sacred hands, and in me
taking by the chin. That imprinted in my soul such a great tenderness of love, that I would have had trouble supporting her, if God had not been for me supported himself.
I was at the feet for a long time of the Supreme Pontiff, and I had prostrated myself in it several times, as I have said before. I had a extreme desire to know which of the three people from the Holy Trinity was with me: I suspected that it was the father; but fear and respect prevented me from asking openly. However, the familiarity and the caresses that God gave me, gave me a little freedom. I say in a half-bass and fearful voice, like a person who dares not speak: Who are you? The The Supreme Pontiff replied: I am one of your friends. I was not fully satisfied, and I resumed: are you the Blessed Virgin? The Supreme Pontiff replied with a admirable sweetness: I am not the Virgin, my child, I am of your friends, and you will one day know who I am. By pronouncing These words disappeared: I saw nothing more. I wasn't doing it anymore what to hear the herald who was still crying out Humiliate yourselves! I addressed me to that voice without knowing to whom I was speaking, and said unto him, Who is he who was with me, and who comes from disappear? This voice answered me in one voice again. stronger: Ah! who is it? this is the wisdom of the father Eternal. That said, the voice stopped, and it all ended.
This is what our Lord made me known after this apparition, in which he showed himself to me in the figure of a Supreme Pontiff clothed in his papal vestments. This shape marks that our Holy Father the Pope truly represents our Lord Jesus Christ; This herald who cried out without cease Humiliate yourselves, mark fear and respect, which must go up to
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annihilation, with which we owe obedience, love and respect to the leader of the Holy Church, and to the Church, as to J. C. even. J. C. is in the Church, and the Church in God. We must listen to the word of the Church as if it was the word of God himself.
In the apparition of which I just spoke, our Lord sometimes mixed his voice with that of the herald, saying to me, humble yourselves; What marks that the voice of the Supreme Pontiff is that of God, and that all this is one. Who contradicts the Church, contradicts God; who disobeys the Church, disobeys to God; who does not want to recognize the Church, ignorance of God; and who separates himself from the Church, separates himself entirely from God.
§. IV.
The demons also appear to the Sister of various manners. Difference between the appearances of the demon and those of Our Lord.
I'm still going to do Know here the machinations of the demons to my subject, temptations, suggestions, ghosts and chimeras of which they disturbed my imagination; what happened quite frequently, that is, when they attacked me by appearing visibly to me, and obscuring me by At the same time the spirit of black vapors, but the time when They caused me the most pain, it was the day of my religious profession, During ceremonies that take place made to the chorus, this frightful monster knowing no more than doing, followed me everywhere; He was before my eyes for frighten me and to frighten me. Under the figure of a bear, he stopped in front of me, making contortions even Indecent. He told me: It is for me that you are going to make your Wishes. He gave me fears, troubles and fears in the imagination, which made me very painful. As on sang the Suscipe, he accompanied me all along the choir; and as I returned from the bottom of the choir to the gate, it became placed beside my Superior, who was
sitting on a seat, where she was waiting for me to receive my vows. When I approached her at the end of the Suspice, I said to aloud, according to prescribed usage: Receive me, my God, according to your word, and do not confuse me in my expectation, my desire and my hope. In making this prayer, my intention, at the In the midst of my fights, was throwing myself, as if in body lost, in the arms of God's mercy, hoping of his infinite goodness that he would assist me in the practices of the new consecration that I was going to make to him by my vows. In that moment the demon disappeared. I prostrated myself on my knees of my Superior, where I took my vows with great confidence and courage.
Appearance demons at the time of confession.
The eve of a great Feast, being in the confessional, I live on a small altar three or four demons dancing and rejoicing between them. I knew in God that demons were came there on purpose to make bad people do Confessions. Each demon had its office: some were tasked with starting conversations to prevent to prepare for confession; the others had to excite arguments between sisters, who would pass in front of others. A few had the function of bringing to The impatience of the nuns at the sight of their sisters who were too long to confess. The greatest satisfaction of demons was to see nuns withdrawing impatiently from the confessional, saying: I do not return to confession. The Devil was then at the height of his joy.
Here I see the difference that I felt between the apparitions of Our Lord and those of the devil. It's easy to get me wrong, the devil knowing how to counterfeit the angel of light.
Illusions and deceptions of the devil. False visions and false devotions.
The devil has its devotees and his devotees; He knows very well how to counterfeit ecstasies and certain gestures that appear outside, and in public signs of true devotion. Since I am on earth, God has made me know many people who had been deceived by the demon without the To know. God compelled me to warn them and warn them. confessor, which I did, among other things, in relation to one of them, who, without realizing that she was the plaything of the demon, was so strongly attached to his alleged revelations, to his illusions, to her raptures and ecstasies, that she resembled those worldly women, who do not feed their heart only sensual pleasures and maxims of the world: when They are at their toilet to adorn themselves with their
worldly clothes, they are stand in front of a mirror to see each other and adjust to if they were able to manage to adorn themselves with they have their hearts all, puffed up with joy; They appear well a hundred times in front of the ice, or rather They stay there for a very long time admiring and contemplate oneself. Such are these poor creatures who are deceived and deceiving themselves; for the demon cannot deceive us without our participation.
When he finds a heart willing to feed on sensual pleasures and Illicit
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It is then that he throws his primers, and this heart eager for pleasures lets itself be taken in quickly, which usually happens to the female sex; and, like our mother Eve, always curious to know and to learn new things, these poor creatures get drunk, so to speak, with their beautiful devotions, and constantly look into their interior where the devil has raised his throne. This is where, according to their fantasy and according to their desires, he imprints them all kinds of illusions and imaginary visions that fill them the mind and brain, where these thoughts come from fantastic ones they are so busy with. A vapor goes to the brain, and immediately here is the so-called Saint who falls into ecstasy, but into a diabolical ecstasy and without no fruit: it does not resemble that of the beautiful Esther, who, by her ecstatic failure, delivered her people; But, on the contrary, these deceived people lose their souls and put them under captivity and under the power of the devil; for the devil has no trouble in persuade them that they are holy: they firmly believe it, They feed on all those pleasures that the devil paints in their imagination, which becomes like a picture of all these things extraordinary in which they look at each other, contemplate each other and began to their great contentment. The closer we get to the General judgment, the more the devil will arouse false devotees and false devotees.
Difference between the appearances of God and those of the devil.
There is this difference between the appearances of God and those of the devil, that the appearance of God carries with it a touch of his love and his Majesty, which entitles you to a sweet motion of love in the soul, which is filled with great knowledge in the majesty of God. This Supreme Majesty fills the soul with love and confusion: God shows His greatness to the soul, to whom he discovers in at the same time its baseness and nothingness. Finally, it has not guard against believing herself to be a saint; When everyone and even their Confessor would tell her, she would not believe it. The reason in is that the closer a soul comes to God, the more God unites with she; More also she becomes humble by the knowledge of her baseness and the vile nothingness of the creature. It is therefore Not only humble, but it is as if annihilated in herself before God, whenever she thinks of God.
In the appearances of the demon is quite the opposite; for the devil does not bear never the souls he deceives to love God, it is to him impossible. He only knows what God's love is. He never loved him, and he will never love him. If these people deceived believe they love God, they are in a real mistake. They may well feel, in truth, By the artifice of the devil, I do not know what enthusiasm of love of themselves and of their own excellence; concerning Humility, they are far from it: in the On the contrary, there is in them only feint, disguise and Duplicity in their words, in their actions, and above all in their conduct. By the same token they can deceive, confessors; for their superb carries them to the point of humiliating oneself in public, but with a hypocritical and feigned humility, and without any fruit, having the object and intention only to appear humble in the eyes of men and their confessors, to attract esteem and reputation, and to be honoured like saints. Their austerities and, their Body mortifications are sometimes greater and more cruel than would be those of J.C.'s true followers, and All this is only the effect of ambition and passion disorderly to appear, to satisfy their pride.
Means to avoid the illusions of the devil.
A person driven by the spirit of God is not always immune to the attacks of Satan; but in my opinion, and from experience that I made myself, here are for the ordinary the weapons than a soul, which seeks only the glory of God and his love, who only wants to die to the world, to all creatures and to herself for the love of God and who finally will not please only his God, and serve only him, must oppose his enemy, who sometimes does not know where to attack him, because he fears her and that he trembles
To be defeated: this soul that is in these dispositions and in the practice of these virtues, when God draws near to her, and speaks to her, certainly will recognize it; because there is I do not know what, that we cannot understand, and cannot be explained, who comes out of this divine voice, penetrates the heart, and makes tremble the soul of sweet joy. She then cries out. in itself and without noise: O this is the God of my heart, the one object of all my desires, and that which my heart Like! Therefore, if God asks her something, she listens to him. with holy respect mingled with fear and of annihilation. It offers itself to him, either to act, either to suffer, to live or to die; Its greatest appeal is to sacrifice oneself in the hands of the Lord, according to interest of his purest love and glory.
When my enemy attacked me and wanted me to hear that he was the Lord, my poor soul could not recognize it; at on the contrary, it
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trembled with fear by the fear of being wrong. She was troubled and attacked of several things she could not understand. For then, by a Lively trust in God I rose to him from all the affection of my heart and my love. Come, my Lord and my God, I said to him, rush promptly to my aid, and Make haste to come and rescue me.
I gave up thus the party of Satan, which disappeared like smoke. That's what I've experienced many times.
I would like to add two more or three very useful opinions to fight the enemy. It is not to attach oneself at all to consolations, though morally one believes them of God; not to cling, not only to consolations extraordinary, but even ordinary. If a soul wants to please only God, it must detach itself generally of all that is not God, of the spiritual as well as temporal, and even good creatures like evil ones, looking at God in all creatures and in the charity of J-C, and see all creatures in God. Among those who will read this, there are those who will believe this. impossible; But I answer that we can do anything with the Help of grace. We do not need graces for this extraordinary, the only truths of faith Enough; and you can do this in the secret of your heart, between God and you without the help of
No one. When he would even be your next of kin, you can carry into God the friendship you have for them, and love God in them. O happy practice for those who will persevere to the end! We can say that they have found paradise on earth, or rather that they began to love God on earth, so than the neighbor, as they will eternally do in the Heaven in the bliss of the blessed.
§. V.
Fighting of the Sister against natural passions and inclinations of the heart, shortly after his religious profession.
I was twenty-four to Twenty-five years when I had the good fortune to make my vows of religion. God had given me perfect health and great strength of temperament, whose nuns were charmed, in the hope that I would be able to return Service to the community. With this the good Lord had me gave a good vocation with a good will of fulfill the duties of my state, and render, for the sake of God and out of gratitude for the community, all the good services and assistance that I could at all religious, and especially to the infirm, and to those who needed more help; which caused me with many a friendship too natural, which was contrary to the common charity that we owe each other mutually.
Friendships too natural of several nuns for the Sister; that that she suffers on this occasion.
This raised spirits jealous, and caused me great sorrows in my interior, on both sides. I saw well in God that all these excesses came from the devil; and for what I am concerned watched, as I knew from experience that this enemy almost always continued, and that he had done everything possible, Both on the side of the creatures and mine, for Preventing myself from being religious, I saw well that I was going still be engaged in fighting. I took my gone according to what I saw in God's will.
I went find my Superior, and prayed to her, when a few would ask her permission to give me some thing, to refuse them, and to tell them that I did not need it, and that I would be the
embarrassed conscience because of my vow of poverty. The nuns, In spite of this, brought me into our cell of all that that they had, to please me. When I found it, I portais to the Superior. As soon as they They found out, they got angry with me, and I was very comfortable, because it pleased others, who were contrary to me. Also, everything I could do without that God was offended, I did it to soften their mood. Sometimes, when they found me alone, they I threw up everything the devil suggested to me. I had great compassion to see them suffer so much in cause of me. When there were two sick in the infirmary, one of whom loved me, and the other was contrary to me, I was doing violence to myself for the sake of God. I looked good to the latter, and even I paid more attention to serving her well, even at the prejudice of the former; which caused a certain Cooling and dissatisfaction with those who seemed to be my so-called friends, and what made others very happy. In my interior I conducted me according to what I saw in God being the most Perfect with regard to these two opposing parties.
When I was doing a service to those that were contrary to me, I believed that God had for pleasant, and my intention was purely for its glory. To others, when I gave them back
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service, I was experiencing a certain repugnance that I did not make them seem, I feared that in most of the services I rendered them my time was not lost before God. That's why I kept renew my good intentions to do it only for pure love of God.
During Her novitiate, she is treated harshly by the spendthrift.
In the time I was Postulant and novice, I was always under the eyes of a nun who was spendthrift. I was looking at her as a true friend according to the spirit of God. She took back all my mistakes, and worked to correct me with gentleness and charity. She taught me what I had to do it for it; but when she was in public, and especially in front of some nuns who were against me, she quarreled me
of importance, and yielded all the mistakes I had made in the kitchen; She said that I was a beast, and that I did not learn to cook well: in a word, she seemed to act Harshly with me in every way.
She feels for this nun an affection too natural which it hastens to repress.
It was for her that I felt the most inclination, because I saw in God that all his opinions and his way of acting towards me, were not only for my own good. After my profession, she stopped me quarreling in public; but the devil, who always watched over my ruin, found that I accosted him, and that I returned to him. Service in an affable and grateful manner. Indeed, I felt in my interior a certain inclination for her, which I did not feel for others. When I was alone with her, I let myself go to some small familiarities, as to that of him take hands. This good mother withdrew them at once, and gave me a charitable remonstrance, telling me that he did not did not agree between nuns to take each other's hands by familiarity or natural friendship; that I was religious, and that I should love only God and attach myself only to him alone. Everything she told me made me have to she of esteem and friendship, seeing that God had it for me given to fight my flaws.
In addition, at this friendship too tender which I felt towards him, The devil joined a strong temptation of unregulated friendship. In everything I did for her, I felt a certain love. for her who always prevailed: it went so much before, that I I felt jealousy. When I realized this I was horrified: going back into myself, I said to the Lord: Have mercy on me; This is what I am able. I resolved to go to confession, and to accuse me of all that I found myself guilty of, and Especially on this occasion. I took the resolution to speak in particular to the nun who was the object of my sentence. I say to her: My mother, pray God for me. I ingenuously confessed to him all that I felt for her in my interior; and to prevent it, I begged her not to hurt me so much, assuring her that I was resolved, by the grace of God, to Fight this passion whenever it is felt. I promised him that I would give him no thoughtfulness, and that even I would not look at her or greet her, wanting only when she would have to deal with me, or need something, she would do it to me asked. Unfortunately we often had to deal with each other, She being a spendthrift, and I am the sister of kitchen. I knelt down, and conjured her to forgive me, and to pray to the Lord to make me
Victory. This good mother promised me that she would, and told me to act. to him as the good Lord would inspire me, in assuring me that she would have no pain.
For then we Left; I did not speak to him again until there was necessity. I didn't even dare to look up to look at her while talking to her; I was so violent to myself, that I was trembling. Unfortunately she found herself very inconvenienced. side pain, but not bedridden. She came to the kitchen one morning, complaining of the pains that she felt; but, O God! What pain I was experiencing? myself seeing that my duty was to warn her and to offer him a broth, as the sisters were wont to do it to sick nuns. This good mother had the humility to ask me for one. I immediately gave it to him with great satisfaction, and thanked God for not failing to my promise.
Fight of the Sister to overcome herself. Means it takes. His victory.
My sorrows, compared to This passion did not diminish, in spite of all that I was doing to defeat her. I was tormented during the day and the night, always busy with her, worries how She was wearing, with extreme desires to be with her. When I was there, I had to to keep the promises I had made to God, not to to look at her, not to speak to her, nor to make her any thoughtfulness. It seemed that all these precautions did not served only to make me suffer.
One day this nun told me said: My sister, tonight, when you are in your cell, Say your rosary for me. No sooner had I entered it than I began to say to myself with sorrow, against This nun: I
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Would be good to say my rosary for her! I suffer so much about him! I was almost determined to do nothing. However On reflection, I thought that perhaps the right God would have mercy on me; I say my rosary to the honor of the Most Holy Virgin so that she may obtain me from his dear Son the deliverance from this passion. When he was All these sorrows were taken away from me at this very moment, and all these thoughts vanished if
Strongly, that I do not I thought more than the next day around noon. This damned passion so Greatly increased by the devil, lasted just a month. That Time seemed to me longer than if I had suffered several years. The disaster of my interior had become to me. unbearable by the fear of offending God and letting me go to the weakness of nature, and I was afraid it would last All my life. I said to myself: If I had not done profession in this community, I would not determine myself never to do it, as long as I feel this movement in me of passion for this nun. In my sorrow, which was Extravagant, I wish I had been a nun at more than a hundred leagues from her.
Here's how I get included during this month. I blindly obeyed my confessor in all that he told me to do, submitting to him my own judgment and reason. I wish I had not Communion, because of the thick darkness with which my soul was surrounded. I feared, in communicating, to make sacrilege, in the thought that God was greatly angry with me, because that he had taken away this beautiful light from me which I have spoken about elsewhere, and which he had so much to me. abandoned and left in darkness, that I no longer saw a drop to drive myself. Faith directed me without any sensitive devotion, and even all the sensitive was suspended in what concerns devotion. However, I waived my own judgment to follow in all things that of my confessor. He wanted me to do all communions, and that I go to confession only all the eight days.
The good Lord gave me grace to obey him. I was able to report to my mistress and tell him everything that was going on with respect to the nun, that I namemai. I received much consolation, and she told me that it was purely a temptation. How, sister, she added, "could you attach yourself to a nun who has scolded you so much, and has been so rough to Your regard? My mistress also wanted me to do all communions.
Here again what came to me during this month. I was almost all along the days in silence, even with the other nuns, who saw that I had something. They came to console me, and sought to probe me to find out what I had; but I kept my grief too secret to tell others than to my confessor and mistress. The nuns could see that I was not behaving like I did. the ordinary; and I, fearing to attach myself to them as I am. I had become attached to each other throughout the course of This month, when they spoke to me, I dared not look up at they to look them in the face. I only replied to them this which was necessary, and I left them promptly, Begging them to apologize, because I had to work. The nuns told my confessor that I was losing my
head, that I do not I did not conduct as usual, that I hardly spoke to them not, and I hardly looked at them. He confessed to me that they had complained about me. He scolded me and told me that I was pushing things too far.
It was an extra for me sorrows that made me understand that it did not come from God, since my confessor disapproved of him; that it was necessary renounce these mortifications in order to obey, and that I I would be happy with that.
However I support myself by the grace of God in what I had undertaken, because my confessor had not openly told me that he would not Don't.
After my confession, The nuns observed that I continued my silence and My ordinary way of acting. There was one in particular who came one day to find me in the kitchen, and who, in the presence of of several nuns, threw her fire at me and said against me all that that she had in her imagination.
I was very busy; I said nothing at all. She reported many of the words my confessor had spoken to me in particular: That I I was losing my mind and going crazy. This circulated in the Community: The nuns looked at me as a person who was losing his mind.
The good Lord delivered me of this passion, as I said above. The nun of whom he The question did not tell me anything that was said about me in the community; but as soon as I realized that I was fully delivered from this I made known to her, acting with her as I did. did before, warning her in everything and giving her back Service with pleasure and gratitude. As I had been so well chastised by this passion, I prayed to the Lord to make me die
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fully at this natural love, to see creatures only in God, and to love them only in the pure charity of the heart of Jesus. This God of goodness fills me with so many graces that he fills me seemed to have come out of hell to enjoy of the presence of God and his divine lights.
§. VI.
Other the Sister's struggles against the passions, and especially against the passions. pride.
The good Lord warns me that he I had to give up the gate, die to my parents and to the world, and made known to me what I would suffer from the devil, of my passions and the world. He said to me, "My dear child, he You must renounce entirely the world, your parents, making the sacrifice of no longer going to the gate than out of obedience. Tell your confessor about this and to your Superior, and do what they do to you will order. »
Resolution which she takes to go to the parlor only out of obedience. Murmurs in the community against her.
I went to find my Confessor and my Superior; I told them the purpose I had formed for the glory of God and salvation of my soul. They both approved my resolution. My Superior said to me: My Sister, he does not We must not make a wish for it, because in a case of necessity I might judge it appropriate to make you go. But, O My god! It was again for me, with regard to several nuns, and especially one of them They are a new increase in penalties. Some said that It was a kind of hypocrisy on my part, which I wanted to get noticed by doing something singular, to impose them on others; others claimed it was out of stupidity; that I might as well not have the mind to talk to the people of the world. There were a few who took me in particular to make me their discharge of heart, and who gave me an important soap. What was good to me, it is that the Confessor and the Superior were for me, which made the storm pass.
One of her sisters absolutely wants to see her. Answer she made him.
But the devil seeing that His shot was missed, turned to the side of my parents, who became furious at the side I had taken; they absolutely wanted to see me, especially one of my sisters, who went to the confessor and begged him to make me come to see me at the gate of the confessional who gave into the confessor's room. He asked the Superior and told him to go and get me for that time, so that my Sister and I could catch a glimpse of each other. My Superior came to fetch me, and, taking me by the hand, she led me to the confessional, oh I found my sister waiting for me. The The first hello she said was to overwhelm me with
reproaches, and she unloaded all that was dear to his heart, in the presence of of the Confessor and the Superior, who never left me point. When she had said everything, here is the answer I gave her. Stay, sister, at your house, and watch over your business; Do not come here to disturb me in my dear solitude, where I shut myself up for God's sake. I let her know that I was fully resolute. not to go to the gate for anyone, unless obedience commands me.
Visits of people of the world. How the Sister Defeated to deliver oneself.
I enjoy a little rest for some time; But here is a new squall, worse than the others. The devil gave me a false reputation in the minds of the people of the world, and inspired them with vain esteem For me. He made them come and ask me at the gate, though I was nothing to them. Sometimes it was even the first in the city. My Superior seeing that these people asked me as if out of curiosity, made me go to the grid, and several times I was forced to do it by Obedience, which caused me a lot of pain. I noticed The demon's ploy with the world to to bring me to vain glory and to lose myself. Reflective On what I had to do, I found an invention for when The fatal opportunity would be to go to the gate, any Who, whether it was people of the world who asked me: was to make the innocent about everything they would tell me, particularly on certain extraordinary matters, and to pay them no compliment other than to tell them that I was not going to to the grid only by obedience. When people from the people came to see their religious relatives, they asked me Also: I refused them outright. This way of acting succeeds me Very well, and for some time I did not go to the grid at all.
The Demon tempts her with pride. His fights.
But the demon attacked me with my dominant passion, which is pride, and there is There were strong temptations of complacency. It was soon necessary Fight with knives against myself and against the enemy that constantly presented itself to my imagination and in my mind. Look, he told me, at the beautiful reputation which you now have in the world and in religion; almost everything The world looks at you and esteems you as a saint. He reminded me of Memory all the different words that had me were addressed either to the
grid, either in the community. I had no other resource than in grace from
J. C,; I saw sometimes
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that I was close to be submerged in the abyss; It seemed that everything carried me to pride and served as weapons to the devil to fight me. I humbled myself in the chapters before the Community: all this was just to make me feel more pain.
She asks the Lord for humiliation and suffering. It is Answered.
One day that in the midst of my I saw myself being fought to excess on all sides, I lifted my heart and mind to heaven, saying, " Lord, you who see the violent state where I am Among my enemies, who are constantly waging war on me, come to My help, only you can achieve victory. Send me, please, O my God, some great disease, infirmities and humiliations, which attack this body and this perfect health that you have given me in my youth, and which serve only as bait for my passions, and means of elevating myself before creatures, and even in front of the community, which is so satisfied and so glad I put me in religion. »
It was not at my subject what applause and jubilation, which always caused, to me, two parties in the house, one of friends, and the other jealous. On that occasion, I prayed to the Lord to strike this bold body, and I gave myself entirely to him to suffer all which she would like in order to be humiliated before the creatures, rather than losing my soul. O my
God! Never ask was so promptly granted to me. As I I prayed to God, I felt a rough assault of nature, which rose up against me by making me hear: That Are you asking? Do you know what pains and sufferings you will have? to support in a community that will keep you perhaps with as much pain in the disease, as she had pleasure in possessing yourself in health? I am found overwhelmed under the weight of affliction, seeing me in fight against myself. Without renouncing my prayer, I submitted to God's will, hoping that
My prayer does not would not offend him, because I was doing it for his pure love and for my salvation.
I was no more than eight days, as far as I can remember, without feeling the effects of my request. This divine Saviour, very liberal and in love Sufferings for our love, honored me with the precious gift of his cross, by all kinds of habitual infirmities and perpetual, and humiliation before God and before the men. It was a great way to fight and break down my passions. with the help of grace. But alas! The superb men never but with ourselves. And I'm going to tell another story about Cruel assault that the devil delivered to me on the occasion of the favors and graces that God even gave me sometimes in the greatest pain.
God supports her with extraordinary grace in an operation very painful.
One day I was in the hands of a surgeon, and I had to suffer from cruel pain by the extirpation of a magnifying glass on a knee, the size of a child's head. He had to cut several times. This God of goodness favored me with his grace at the time of this operation, which lasted about a quarter of time. I was sitting in an armchair, without being Held, neither bound, presenting my knee freely and without flinching, and this to the great astonishment and admiration of the assistants, and even the surgeon, who said that if he had was in my place, it should have been linked strongly. But alas! if we knew how it all came together. passed into my heart through the fire of divine love and presence of the Most Holy Trinity, whose talks were so sweet, that they enchanted all my sharpest pains! My heart, animated by these sweet flames, could not say anything other thing with every piece of flesh I was cut off, again more, my God, even more! and my heart longed that it had been up to himself if we had makes these incisions, to be a victim of the divine love that set him ablaze. But alas! the favor of God having disappeared towards In the evening my capital enemy did not miss his shot. He came to seduce me by a strong temptation, by representing to my imagination all the vain esteem that had been had of me, especially in this circumstance. Here you are a "Holy," he insinuated to me. All those that have been spectators of the operation, disclosed it in the community and in the world, and you are in reverence to them of holiness.
The fear of vanity makes him ask God for living pain without any sensitive favors. It is answered.
In that moment I had recourse to God with all my strength, saying: " Lord, this is the state where I am, and how my Enemy arms against me! I beseech you, O my God, to give sharp pains, which correspond to those I have sufferers in the operation. Put me in confusion with myself and with my self-esteem, supporting me with your Patience, but without any sensitive favors. This God of Goodness granted me my request.
Bright the Sorrows of the Sister. His patience.
Some time later, I had a malignant and pungent mood inside. of the body, and she placed herself in very Sensitive. From there he departed from the swings so vivid, that I can say that they equalled the incisions of the operation. He joined it with a harsh colic.
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In the fort of these pain, which lasted about half a day without No sensitive consolation, I was always ready to get impatient. I would have done it a hundred times for one, if I had a moment lost sight of Our Lord in his passion. I told him Constantly: J. C.'s patience, have mercy on me! Oh my God! how good and kind you are to give so promptly The remedies that are suitable for the great evils that do the Passions, especially the superb!
Danger pride. Need to fight this passion.
O superb evil and abominable! that you reap souls for hell! What is than man? It is a vapor of smoke that dissipates in air. O that all his projects, even for the devotion and even for the salvation of souls, are useless, if the intention is not pure, and for the sole interest of the glory of God, seeking for oneself nothing but his salvation and God's will! This will begin well with the spirit of God and through humility,
and will end with the superb and pride. Then the whole edifice is overturned, and collapses in hell.
I tremble and shudder a thousand times thinking of the artificious tricks of this beast ferocious that kills and crushes, flattering and giving to the heart of illicit pleasures. What is this beast of which I'm talking? She is none other than ourselves. When I considers according to the corruption of the passions, and especially of that of pride, I think there is nothing in the world that there is no It was necessary to suffer, avoid and sacrifice, to fight and destroy his passions; that one must always have the weapons to the hand without letting go until the last breath of his life; for there is no one more in peril than he who believes he is at peace with his passions, and having reduced them to nothingness. That is, the servant of God must watch continually on himself, and sustains a perpetual struggle against his enemies. If they give him any appearance of peace, alas! It is a false peace. They hide, these enemies cunning, to better surprise us. J. C.'s soldiers are Always ready to fight. They seek only peace of the soul, and peace with J. C., who is the king of Fighters.
Feeling of humility of the Sister.
If I ask myself to Myself how to humble oneself with humility which may be pleasing to God, alas! I don't know how to do it, or how to go about it, because I do not find in this hotbed of corruption than vanity.
The more I consider myself, plus I find that without the help of God's grace, I will not I am capable only of vanity, and in this I am similar to the a demon that is not capable of any act of humility that please God, and who can only assert the superb. Alas! O my God! Prostrate to your feet, covered with confusion of what I cannot humble myself, I in this resembles the devil. O my God, I will humble myself from this that I cannot humble myself. O holy humility of J. C., my model! It is you who, by your grace, communicate to me all the remedies to cure my ailments. It is from you that I expect help and assistance; because at last I have Placing my salvation in the hands of your infinite mercy. Despite hell, the world and my passions, I put all my hope in you, and I hope in faith against all hope, relying on your kindness, and on the merits of my Saviour, that By His Holy Mercy, despite My Unworthiness, He will not lose me without resources, nor will he condemn me.
I would never have finished if I wanted to make known to my confessors all the fights that my different passions, joined to temptations of the devil, made me suffer. They attacked me as soon as my childhood, and I foresee that they will not give me any Truce until I die.
What I had written above about my passions, is to make known to who leads me, in what direction and in what way I fighting, and to learn from them if I am not deceived of the devil in all matters of my conscience. I explained much more to me a few years ago, and even I made myself known to my confessor, who made me write all the enlightenment and knowledge that God had given me. I also made a confession to him general, that he might know for himself my sins and the corruption of my morals.
ARTICLE II.
Developments and instructions on various topics already covered In the previous volumes, Hell, Penance, God's goodness to sinners sincerely converted, the great number of reprobates, and the Last Judgment.
§. I.
Details On the torments reserved in hell for souls worldly and sensual. Corruption of a spoiled heart by the spirit of the world.
In a great illness, the Sister is led in spirit into Hell.
My father, I will to realize what happened to me in a great sickness, where our Lord brought me down in spirit with him in hell.
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The good God has favored me every day with his holy cross, by a continuous fever, with violent repetitions and unwelcome cough, which sometimes lasted hours and a half of time. However, here is something very surprising: in the moment when Nature was on all sides in embarrassment and in the pain, God seemed to take hold of the upper part of my soul, as if to draw me all to him. As it stands, this divine Saviour led me into the deep places of the abyss Infernal. I cannot explain here the different terrible and terrible things God made known to me : I will go on and on afterwards, if God grant me a few days to be able to mark it in writing.
I say here only two or three words about what God made me see, and about the implacable hatred which he brings to all worldly men and to all Worldly. He let me know how he would search even in the folds and folds of the heart, to see if it was not stained or plagued by this spirit of the world.
Then God showed me, in this dark place, as a Some space roughly drawn on a rock, and me made it sound that he was taking away my sight, for the present, horrible of hell; so that I do not live a soul suffer, and that I did not see the demons.
Our Lord makes him see in hell a place for souls socialites after the general judgment.
The will of our Lord was to make me see the horrible punishment whose worldly will be punished, if they die without a real conversion and without penance. Our Lord spoke to me Always as if we were, close to judgment. « See, he said to me, this rock so rough and so badly constructed. After My judgment, the vengeful arm of my righteousness, will reap all the worldly souls united to their bodies. I will press them on one on top of the other, more strongly than are the bricks in the stove. Then God made me see what ardors were the devouring flames from which they would be ablaze one on top of the other for an eternity.
She sees another place reserved for heretics, schismatics, idolaters and sensual souls.
God made me see again other deep places where was reserved like an abyss of muddy water that boiled incessantly at big broths rising to the top. Our Lord tells me then: "These are the unfortunate places where will be precipitated the souls who gave themselves up in this world to all kinds of passions and pleasures Sensual. I knew that this place was for all heretical, schismatic and idolatrous souls, and finally for all those who commit vices of every kind, or who indulge, according to their will, in all their pleasures, as if they wanted to defy omnipotence and majesty of God.
It was then that our Lord said to me: "In this profound varvassière (1), that you see boiling with the fury of my wrath, they will be Snapped and kneaded under the press of my vengeance. » I will fill this lake with all kinds of invented suffering. by my justice. I knew there would be in this precipice fiery as fire, and boiling with corruption, an assemblage of infection, from which souls with their bodies will drink from Long strokes for an eternity.
(1) Species of Wide and deep boiler.
Here are more Details on the subjects I have previously spoken, when our Lord sent me down in spirit into Hell, where he made me see several particular things on the torments of the reprobates.
Corruption from the hearts of worldly souls.
Our Lord, by lamenting on the worldly, who, in spite of his love and all His research, will rush into hell, showed me several hearts animated and as if alive, and which were of flesh, and said to me, "See and consider of what gangrene are affected these hearts, there is almost nothing healthy. I began to look and consider the most spoiled; I saw a black, leaded gangrene that had penetrated inside the heart.
Our Lord said to me, " Open that heart. It was wrapped in a skin that made him take and keep the shape of a heart. As I went to open it, it opened itself; He was all rotten inside, and he was the greatest horror in To see. I saw only a black and curdled blood, only a pulpit rotten and silt. "That's it, my child," said the Lord, the likeness of these worldly souls; outside They appear alive and animating their bodies, living and living. nourishing worldly and sensual pleasures; but they died in my eyes, and for eternal bliss that I had prepared for them; they are more to me heinous by crimes
that they all commit days, what is the horrible infection I made you see in that rotten heart. That's it, our Lord, in this first heart, the likeness of all the worldly souls who have given themselves entirely to all sensual pleasures, and which cannot live otherwise. How do you expect, he added, that I take for
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me a soul as well defiled, if it does not convert perfectly to me, What if she does not do sincere penance? Watch and Consider the state where the other hearts are. »
Diverse degrees of corruption.
I began to observe them. There were some that the gangrene had begun; She had penetrated so before, that she would to the center of the heart. I saw others on whom gangrene was imprinted and dug in the living flesh. The last one I Considerai had gangrene only at the edge of skin, so that it was easy to remove and heal him. Our Lord explained to me what it meant what I had noticed in these hearts; With regard to the second, he said to me: "This one is almost similar to the first one. His soul still has a little trouble indulging in all worldly pleasures; But, alas! His sentence will soon fade. The heart you saw there, and where the wound was still only digging into the flesh, represents, Our Lord tells me, the souls who begin to willingly surrender themselves to the world. As for the last, who had gangrene on the skin, he represents the souls who hate the world, and who do all they can to part with it, but who, by An unfortunate necessity, are engaged in it sometimes as if in spite of themselves. Just as we cannot put your finger in the fire without getting burned, so too These poor souls cannot converse with the worldly without receive stains. »
Danger trade with the world for people devoted to God.
Our Lord added: " There is a different kind of person (such are, for example, persons of the church, or persons consecrated to God by solemn vows) who meet by chance with people of the world, either relatives or friends, who do not maintain only worldly things, or their vain pleasures. If these people consecrated to God listen with pleasure, and keep the conversation going, they will sin much more than family people, who are like forced from time to time to see each other as a family, and to hear speeches sometimes more mundane than otherwise. Those People hate the world and its maxims.
Conduct Souls who hate the world by living in the midst of the world.
Far from it pleasure, they plug their ears to the voice of snakes enchanters of hell, and instead of pleasure, they feel a bitter sadness in their hearts. If they can skillfully withdraw under any pretext, or change this fatal interview in another indifferent, in which God is not offended, they hasten to take advantage of it. »
Ease to remove the stain contracted by the world's trade.
Our Lord tells me that It was the latter who had gangrene in flower of skin, and that it took very little to healing: and this is how he explained to me what was needed hear by this little thing. The good ones Christians who fear offending God, and who hate The world, its maxims and consolations, even in their parents even, only need a good confession and a review in their interior, with an act of contrition. There you go this gangrene flush with skin removed, and the purified heart.
Necessity to flee the world.
But, someone will say, these souls you say have gangrene on the edge of skin, have not sinned; they behaved like saints; Others will add: and even until scruple. Well! I guess it's as you say, and that they have not sinned in conversation that they have had with the people of the world: they have nevertheless always sinful, though with repugnance, either by eating meals at the home of these people, or by returning to their families, where they were certain to find People filled with the spirit of the world. Our Lord has
No regard to these worldly civilities; On the contrary, he always shouts to us: Flee the world. Alas! believed to be excusable by this need to go see parents or friends, without considering what is the spirit that possesses them. We go to their homes; You then have to receive them at home: is this where observe the word of God? Instead of fleeing worldly companies, you bring them into your own home. All those who will not find No sin to this conduct, I call them to God's judgment, and they will see if they will be heard.
Danger meals and assemblies of the world, especially for persons of the Church. J. C.'s complaints on this subject.
If Our Lord finds sin in secular persons, even In those who hate the world, what will it be of the people of churches that are in meals, in assemblies of the world, and who then make them sumptuous at home, where They are obliged to receive all the people of the world? If I speaks of the persons of the Church, I speak of them in general, without knowing any in particular; I only know what that God has made me know of it, and it is he who obliges me to make it known to me speak.
Please God that all those who are consecrated to God, and who have made mistakes by clinging to the worldly spirit, be able to hear the complaints that J. C. spreads about the loss of their souls! Here is what he says: "I have fed and raised children, whom I treated as favorites; I Ai from
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This mass of the world that is the way of perdition; I fed and fattened them at my table; I mean I gave them grace on grace, and that I have enriched them on all sides with my benefits and my favors: I entrusted them and I put Israel in their custody, that they may carefully watch over my vine; but the ungrateful have turned their backs on me; They have side with my enemies, and fight with them against me. The columns I had raised to support my church are shaken and slaughtered. Is this the firmness I expected, After so many graces I had given them? Israel My darling people, you are being plundered and ravaged by the very ones I gave you
For support: Ah! Woe to those ministers of iniquity, who, instead of saving souls, which I had given them in warning, precipitate them into hell by their bad examples, scandals and bad ones advice! »
Our Lord made me hearing that his complaints were addressed to all persons who were in functions where there is a charge of souls; which unfortunately set a bad example; who, by their conduct, scandalize young and old, and who forget themselves on the duties of their state.
§. II.
Fears and fears of conscience that the devil inspires in the Sister to bring her to despair. Consolations and instructions she receives from Our Lord.
Satan tries to bring the Sister to despair. She triumphs over it.
My Father, here is a Another pain I felt through persecution of the devil. When, by the will of God, I was Out of this place of darkness, this infernal monster, Our common enemy, was carried with rage against I, seeing what the Lord had shown me, and knowing what he asked of me: Here he is, this armed fort,
who rushes up against me; burdened under the weight of the most acute suffering and pain, and almost all Days reduced to desperation, I then wiped the fights of a nature bored, tired of suffering, and pushed exhausted; She sided with my enemy to fight. This infernal monster filled my mind with its vapors malignant and stinked, blackening my imagination thick darkness, and remembering me of a hundred things that I should not have taken care of out of duty to charity. In the fort of the transports of my fever, he played me at the ballot by turning and turning me as he wanted; But when common sense came back to me, I examined myself for ask God for forgiveness. So he redoubled all his efforts. to throw me down the precipice, making me hear that I was about to die, and there was no of appearance to be able to go to confession. I felt my trust in God weakened, and a movement that brought me to the Despair seeing me thrown into the frightful quagmire of my sins. So, in the middle of my darkness, I had recourse to the good God and to the Madonna; I prayed to her with all my heart that she would not suffer. Not that I mourusse without confession.
It is here that I cannot too much admire the goodness and mercy of my God. In less than twenty-four hours a worthy minister of the Lord arrives, who administers me and gives me the Holy Viaticum. By merits and the grace of the sacrament, through enlightenment and advice of the confessor, God, by his holy visit, removed all my doubts and all my sorrows, dispelled my darkness, and gave me back This sweet peace and tender trust of a child towards his good Father. He especially gave me back this beautiful light that illuminated all my interior, and drove out the darkness.
New assault of the demon. He throws trouble into his consciousness.
However Satan, this strong armed, studied and examined by what means he could still trouble me. For me, in ignorance where I was that this cruel enemy was watching over my ruin, I passed three or four days in thanksgiving of the benefits that I had received from my God. One morning, suddenly, began the fight with a movement in the lower part who went with trouble to an examination of myself. My Worried conscience told me: You make yourself unbearable by Your complaints, you badly edify those who serve you, you them Become dependent and boring, you give them the opportunity to Anger: you will bring all this before God. At the same time He throws me a black vapor, I mean full of darkness which offended my understanding. So I recognized that it was This infernal monster who still wanted to lure me into his traps. God gave me the grace to have prompt recourse to him, and to cry out with all my might to implore his help: Lord, I said, come to my aid, run promptly; Don't delay not, because I will perish! For a few minutes it rained it is up to God to let me scream and fight against my enemy.
Our Lord appears to him. He consoles and instructs her.
But finally, after several impulses towards God, and several redoubled cries, behold, suddenly this amiable Savior (not by a grace ordinary, that is, by a divine movement, or by the virtue of faith, not ever by an extraordinary grace of this God of goodness)
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appeared to me visibly as a triumphant conqueror, and an armed fort that drives them out another who is below him.
These are the words that Our Lord addressed my alarmed soul: "That Do you fear, my daughter? Why do you afflict him? I don't impute the the least fault in all that is reproached to you; I forgave him everything; I am not angry with you. O God! Who could conceive of the abundance of consolation and light inner with which these sacred words filled me! I could not find sufficient expressions to humiliate me in front of God, ask him for forgiveness and give him thanks. My adorable Saviour, by his pure goodness, and by his great humility, stayed with me for some time to instruct me in all the tricks of the demon, and the stratagems he insinuated into the mind people who had the kindness and charity of serve me.
The Mutual charitable practices greatly displease the demon. He makes an effort to prevent them.
Our Lord warns me to give me custody of most of the people who approached me, both those from within and from without, because the devil was constantly on the lookout to get them put in their speech something likely to cause trouble in my inferior; so Our Lord tells me to warn of his part, my mothers, that the devil resented them; First, because of peace and union in the J. C.'s charity, which the three of us had together, and which he had resolved to break that peace, and to cast among we discord and division, so contrary to charity, and who so displease God; than what displeased many to the devil were, secondly, the charitable warnings and fraternal that we give to each other; and third, Finally, the provisions and preparations we made, for return to grace with God.
Rule to follow in the conversations prescribed to the Sister by Our Lord.
This is what Our Lord recommended me in particular to warn me against pitfalls of the devil.
"In the conversations, he told me, and in all your speeches, do not speak precisely what is needed and which can serve my glory,
to charity and the instruction of the next. You talk too much in Things indifferent, especially where you believe that there is no evil.
Shut up. When will talk a lot in your presence, close the ears of your interior, humble yourselves before me, and seek not to seek whether the speeches are good or bad, or whether they offend me or not; But drop all this as a Whirlwind passing »
He There is no sin to complain about when one Suffers. Our Lord heeds everything when the heart is all his.
Our Lord made me know, with respect to complaints of nature, that the devil imputed me to sin, that there was no had no harm, because it is natural to complain.
"If I wanted, I said he, "I could favor you with a grace I have given. to my saints, and in particular to my martyrs, who, in the In the midst of their deep sorrows, triumphed over nature and all his complaints. They couldn't have done it without a grace Particular. For you, if I had given you this grace, and that you would have suffered your pains in the Silence and without any complaint from nature, the devil will would have attempted vain glory and ostentation. Therefore, My child, I know what is good for everyone, even in the distribution of my graces. Everything benefits the one who loves me. When a heart has been entirely dedicated To my love, I have regard for all suffering of body and mind, to all sighs and all interspersed complaints caused by the failure of The life of the moribund: all this is numbered and pleases My love. »
Our Lord said to me, " Imitate my faithful souls, who cannot stop the complaints of an always sensitive nature: they offer me the number of these complaints instead of the number of acts of my pure Love that their hearts constantly desire to make me. It is good also to attach acts of true contrition, who speak of my love. This is a very meritorious method to defeat the enemy. Here are the weapons I give you for the Fight: Watch and pray. The means to triumph over this lion, it is to attach oneself inviolably to me and to my love; to stretch with all his heart and soul to to love me more perfectly, and to join to the divine commandment of my Love Perfect charity for one's neighbour. »
This is what Our Lord said to me, "Do not fear, my daughter, I will assist you with my grace; but I want you to work with her and through her with all your power. »
§. III.
Questions on Confession. Divine ministry, from the Priests to the Court of Penance. God's goodness and love for Truly penitent sinners.
My Father, I give you an account of what I have experienced in my interior,
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on the occasion of Several questions about confession.
At Default of a priest at the point of death, one is not obliged, and even it is not appropriate to confess your sins to a secular person.
I once found myself in A company where we argued about confession. I am told: My Sister, if you were on the verge of death, and that you could not go to confession to a priest approved, you would have to confess to a secular, and accuse your sins with humility. God would have it for pleasure, though the secular had not not the power to give you absolution. I rejected this proposal, saying that it was not at all to do: that in this case I would confess to God, and that I I would ask him for forgiveness with all my heart.
When I was alone, I went into my interior between God and me, and I I considered the speeches I had been given. This is what God made it known to me: This action is not at all good at do, because its consequences would tend to error and deceive souls. God does not want humility from this manner. Our Lord tells me that since the beginning of His Church so far, the devil sought to destroy the confession that the faithful make to his ministers; that, for this, he employed all kinds of artifices and false pretexts to bring them down in heresy.
One moribund can, and even must find out to a friend all that is necessary to put its own house in order. family affairs, redressing injustices, etc.
However, here is a circumstance that I live in God and that God approves
: for example, from two friends who are united by the bonds of charity in faith Catholic, one is surprised at the point of death, without being able to have any help from good priests; that poor guy moribund feels his conscience alarmed and worried about Several family matters: it is then that he can, according to what I live in God's will, discover business from his conscience to his intimate friend. God appointed me those he could entrust to her
: the trials, the charges of minors, restitutions, finally, generally any matter in which the conscience is engaged, and that it is necessary to discover to others; but what God forbids to this dying man is to have no intention to confess or accuse oneself of one's faults as would make a penitent at the feet of a priest. If he has flown He must not state this sin in this way, but only to say: I owe so much to such and such a person; Please to satisfy her with my good; and, for example, if they made the flight Together, he can and must tell her, urging her to return with him. If that same dying man slandered a few people, and thus contributed to the loss of their reputation, he must likewise discover his fault to his friend, protesting to him that what he said of These people are false, and it is to burden him with justifying them on his part. in every opportunity he can find.
But all sins hidden which this dying man has committed in secret, he must not talk to his friend, or to any secular person, holy that he is. He must be excited to great contrition, to confess and accuse himself, in the secret of his heart, to God, and ask him forgiveness, in the bitterness of his soul, to all the sins of his life, especially of those he feels guilty about since his last confession with a real desire to confess to a priest approved, if the opportunity arises; and with a firm resolve, if God restores his health, to change of life, more for God's sake than for the fear of hell. I see in God that with regard to all persons who die in these holy dispositions, in true faith, love and trust in the mercies of God, this God of goodness receives them with mercy, and takes them into account of their good desires, as if they were carried out.
Evil what would be committed by a man who, without great necessity, would discover his secret sins at a other man.
God made me know the evil that evil would be committed by a man who discovered his sins secret to another man, without a great necessity, as I explained above. I supposes that this dying man has committed adultery, which is not known only to God; If he finds out to his friend, he scandalizes, and loses reputation. This is what God tells me : There is just as much harm, and even more, to lose one's reputation With scandal, than to lose that of the next. God made me known that he rejected this humility; But here's something at the Subject of the scandal:
The Sister closes her mouth to an ungodly man who was speaking against the confession.
I found myself in a company where there was someone without religion, who held the language of the ungodly. He never ceased to slander good priests, without anyone daring to interrupt him; he claimed, In his wicked speeches, what to confess to these sort of priests, it was to lose one's reputation; that these men were subject to all kinds of defects like the others: he clearly declared his feelings, and showed the distance he had from confess to them. Then he turned his discourse on the angels, and said that he would confess well to an angel, because they were of a spiritual nature; He seemed, by his tone, want to blame God for not having us No given angels to confess us.
I who suffered in my In hearing such speeches, I interrupted him with a bold tone; and animated by that zeal of which I cannot correct, when it comes especially to glory
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of God and of the salvation of the souls, I said to him: To whom angels, even seraphim, did God say: Those to whom you shall give sins will be forgiven, and those to whom you will will retain will be retained? God gave me the grace that such a powerful truth shut his mouth; and without daring Replying a single word, he changed his tune.
Dignity Greatness and divine power of the priest in the tribunal of the penitence.
My father, about From confession, this is what happened to me by a light supernatural, or rather by the torch of faith, by which God enlightened my mind and understanding with regard to of its ministers. At the time of confession, I saw them as transformed into God, I mean by powerful authority all divine with which God had clothed them in their ministry jurisdiction. They positively represented the person of our Lord J. C. in their tribunal as sovereign judge, holding In their hands the balance of justice and mercy of God, to examine and weigh all the sins they Hear; This is called the weight of the sanctuary. What do These worthy ministers? They expel or absolve penitents, according to the good or bad dispositions they recognize or that they discover within themselves. But, O my God! which Miracle I live then! God showed me the ministers at the time of absolution; They go out as if out of themselves to act in God, by all his authority and infinite power; they forgive sins to God; and like God, I then cried out to me in my interior: O counsel and Speech of the scoundrels and the ungodly! Open your eyes to the faith and the Catholic religion, and you will see so many miracles and wonders in all our sacraments and wonders Adorable Mysteries
! Our Lord made it known to me that this ungodly race is more incredulous than the Pharisees were; they take Light for darkness, and darkness for light.
Change suffers that the goodness of God operates in souls in the moment of absolution of the priest in the court of penance.
My Father, here is something that looks at confession, and mercy to the good penitents in the court of penance. The spirit of the Lord led me up a high mountain; there I saw a pyre full of wood which was very dry, to be caught in fire. He was prepared to how it was prepared in the Old Testament to consume the victims. Then I knew in God the father the vengeance of his justice and wrath, which began to burst out like lightning, fire and thunder, which spread here and there around the pyre. We were then a small number of people at knees, not far from the pyre; We had the arms crossed, raising their hands to heaven, and crying: Mercy, Lord! Mercy, my God!
My God, we will tell you ask forgiveness for us and for all your people; Have mercy of us! We were only waiting for death, the moment of which was marked by the one where the fire of God's wrath would fall on the pyre to consume it in a moment, and we thought we would all be consumed right now same.
But, O God! which change! We immediately saw a little lamb, aged as one year, who was all white, spotless. He appeared on the top of the pyre, exposed as A victim on the cross. Immediately the lightning and storms Ceased; We saw the judge's anger changed In the love of a Father's heart, which from heaven as a gentle influence, and as a sacred and benign fire, spread at the stake around the lamb.
Immediately, at the Seeing such a great and unexpectedly expected change, we felt in our hearts a sweet peace, a lively joy, and A great consolation.
So I turned to God, saying to him: My God! What do all these things mean? We thought we were lost, and suddenly your goodness and your mercy has prevailed over your justice. God replied, "The crimes of sinners have ascended to my throne, and I would have ruined everything by my justice, without the merits of the gentle lamb that appeared on this pyre, and which united to his merits and sacrifice the sacrifice of many contrite, humiliated and truly hearts penitents, who, following the example of King David, are the Court of Penance; as victims ready to to suffer and to be sacrificed for my love. My Son immediately came to their rescue by the ministry priests who absolved them. This change occurs that you You have seen, the court of penance operates in the hearts that, truly repentant, want to convert. "You have seen," added the Lord, "my wrath burst forth. here and there around the pyres; There you go the way I make war on sinners. I in terror, I make them fear, tremble, and shudder; I make my wrath and my wrath and my hearts resound in the depths of their hearts. thunder, and I tell them that if they do not do penance promptly, they will all perish. I don't suddenly launch my lightning on them; They see the arrows flying around two." of my anger, and I wait, to see if they will turn around. to me crying out for mercy. »
Which Type of confession must make the article of death a Scandalous sinner who cannot obtain a priest approved.
My Father, here is a another kind of confession that God has made known to me For sinners who have indulged
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during their lifetime in all kinds of crimes whose public has been Shocked. If a sinner of this kind is found, at the article of death, without any help from an approved priest, and that he be touched by an extraordinary grace of the pure mercy of God, he must be excited to a bitter contrition, and to a sharp pain of all the crimes that make him tear the heart; and unable to To be able to confess to a priest, he must, as well as God made it known to me, thus making his public confession : He will gather around him many people from all sex, of all ages, and before them he will prostrate himself from body to the ground; if he can't, at least with heart and of spirit. In this posture, intending to confess to the Father Almighty, and not to the creatures that surround him, and animated by the spirit of faith, based on merits of J. C., and in the spirit of the Church, he must say to High Voice: I Confess to God, the Father Almighty; I accuse myself of all the crimes of my life, in the presence of heaven and earth, and all people who hear me. I beg them to pray to God for me. He must then explain, as much as he can, all public crimes of his life, even the greatest, in the eyes of the assistants, in making public reparations for all the scandals he has given, and by returning all the wrongs he has done to the next. This is what God has made known to me: This sinner must not, during his confession, lose sight of the intention, nor the attention that it is to God alone that he confesses and that he accuses himself, in the presence of all creatures.
If this poor dying man, having satisfied all that has been done to him possible, passes the few days, and maybe a few hours who remain to live, continually asking forgiveness from God, in the tears of bitter contrition, I knew in God that despite his wicked life, he must hope in the mercy of the Lord, and may God forgive him by the merits of J. C. Yes, God will have regard to public confession; He will receive it, when it would be the greatest schismatic, provided that in his general confession he has made all retractions and repairs, what the Church demands.
§. IV.
Big Number of socialites who rush every day into Hell. New graces of conversion that God grants to sinners, especially by warning them
that His judgment is approaching. Unrepentant death of the worldly.
It can be done that in The world there are people who are neither quite worldly, nor quite good Christians: by Example, someone who passionately loves the pleasures of world, will listen to a sermon, sometimes a good reading; that will also be a good confessor who will show him the way of salvation. This No one sees that she is damning herself if she continues to follow the world in its excesses. Leave the entire world without going back and saying the last goodbye to him, it is him impossible. Ah! What will be said, she said to herself, What will be said, if I don't go back to the ball, and if they don't see me? More to comedy? What will be said and respect human arrests it; She finds a certain environment from which she accommodates; it will only go from time to time into the world, and Provided she goes there only three or four times a year, she will silence the world, but it will always carry in its heart attachment and love for the world. She will go to confession; the confessor seeing that this person has greatly diminished the Many of his visits to the world believe it's all good that she moves away from it, and that her heart wants it untie. He gives her absolution and makes her receive communion. One looks upon her as a very Christian soul who makes her Hi or who wants to do it. But, alas! alas! I leaves it to God's judgment to decide what will happen.
Vision animals that represent those who have affection only for the goods of the earth.
The Lord led me in a large meadow where there were beautiful pastures and a large quantity of horses, mules and mules, which Grazing and grazing the grass as if devouring it. I was worried about what that meant. God me made known that under the figure of these animals were represented the avaricious of the earth, who, in their passions, like those brute beasts that devour the grass, attach themselves only to the earth, and to collect gold and silver with the same liveliness I saw in those beasts that grazed the grass.
Way wide of perdition; large number of those who walk there.
After this vision, God led me by small roads with little beatings, on the edge of a Great road in which I was forbidden to enter. One stopped me
on the edge to make me see and consider passers-by. It was a very beautiful path, bigger than ordinary paths, and much better built; it was straight, there was no hollow or height, Neither stones, nor anything that could make the foot hit. There is no had nothing but fun for nature to walk this path. Me, who was made to walk by small paths often filled with brambles and thorns, I asked to go by this road. The one who served as my guide answered me: Do you know?
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well where she duct? It leads to hell; It is called the Great Way and wide; and the path that leads to Paradise is the narrow way and dotted with brambles and thorns.
At the same time I saw a large bandwidth of passers-by, and a great confusion of persons of both sexes, carts, carriages, and cars of all kinds that can be used for the man to travel. There were some on horseback; the largest part were on foot; There were so many, that the the path was full of them; I saw only the world. There were of all states, of all professions, and of almost all ages. There were priests, religious, religious, and up to children as of the age of nine to ten years. There were poor people, but in small quantity, roughly similar to small number of priests. Most of This unfortunate crowd was of rich people, worldly people, and of worldliness, finally of all those who were attached of heart and mind to the maxims of the world.
Here's their way to go: the carriages and all the crews went with a so high speed, that they made a terrible noise. Those who were on horseback galloping out of breath; Those who went on foot walked with all their might. All this apparatus shone as in the world. I saw a magnificent pump, carriages in front and behind, and at Side of these cars a lot of people, the world in the magnificence of their adjustments, and advancing with the same pomp with which they go to balls and Assemblies. It was a lovely look, and their multitude covered almost all the way. We only saw things brilliant of all
Shares; but it was not than those who were neither worldly nor worldly who Saw.
I asked what were These people, and where were they running so hard? Our Lord tells me that these people were running to hell; that he seemed, to see these worldlyns act during their lives, and to To see them chasing after the pleasures of the world that lead to hell, let them hasten to their misfortune, as if they were afraid of not getting there soon enough, or like if they feared that hell would escape them.
"I made you see, the Lord added, the torments that await them in this fire Horrible: have you noticed in this great way as All sinners go to the same side? You have not seen one who returns from hell; But all go without return. »
News graces that Our Lord grants to the world to preserve souls to fall into hell.
This is what the Lord tells me says: "I grant to the world, to the worldly, and to all my peoples, new graces to deliver them from the Fury of my Punishments, that's why I gave you Several visions, which I have revealed to you several things, and that I have chosen you to publish all this to make it known to my Church; It's for these reasons I obliged you to have it written. »
The Sister chosen from God, from childhood, to warn the Sinners of the general judgment approach.
"I chose you From your childhood, and this for the sake of sinners, in order to stop the multitude that falls every day in hell. There are some who will be amazed at all that I tell them. announcement, and warnings I make them give. That they do not are not surprised; Here is another warning: the General judgment is near, and my big day is coming. I cause sinners to give these warnings so that they may convert, and it is for this reason that I publish this. So I repeat to you again: Yes, judgment is approaching; alas! alas! alas! What misfortunes at his approach! how many children will perish before they are born! than Young men of both sexes will be crushed by Death in the middle of their race! Children at the udder will perish with their mother. Woe then to the worldly, Woe to people of bad life, finally woe to all Sinners who will still live in sin without having done penance! »
When Our Lord says that judgment is near, that everything is close before God; and When he says his big day is coming, it's not that he's coming briefly; but this is what I have known in God on the Last Judgment.
I found myself in the presence of God. I heard a thunderous voice saying: Woe, woe, woe in the last century! I understood, by That mighty voice, that these misfortunes were those who would arrive at the approaches of judgment, and at judgment itself. I Don't say a word; and as the Lord has made known to me that no one Man on earth will not know positively which day or year the Son of man will come down to earth to judge all men, I asked for no more.
The Sister judge, in the light of God, in what time The general judgment will come more or less.
But here's what God wanted me to see in his light. I started to look into the light of God at the century that must begin in 1800; I live by this light that the judgment was not there, and that it would not be the last century. I considered, in favor of this same light, the century of 1900, to the end,
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to see positively if it would be the last. Our Lord made me known, and in At the same time I doubted whether it would be at the end of the century of 1900, or in that of 2000. But what I saw, It is that if the judgment arrives in the century of 1900, it does not will come only towards the end; and that if he passes this century, that of 2000 will not pass without it happening, so that I saw it in the light of God.
The sinners who will be little affected by the announcement of the judgment, because it is still distant, are recalled by the Sister at the time of their death, which is closer.
Sinners will console, seeing that the judgment still seems a little and saying: we will not see these Time; We will be delivered from the misfortunes that must precede them. Poor unfortunate sinners who almost never thinks of the misfortunes of eternity, and who have so great fear of those of time, alas! if you die before than to leave worldly pleasures, and before making a good Confession, what hope can you have at the death? It is not the world or sin that you Leave, it is the world and sin that leave you. At this moment, you feel, it is true, cushioning and disappearing That love and the pleasure you have in your heart. But is it out of bitter contrition? is it out of love for God? No. That Sorrow comes from the terror of death that sinners see approach in spite of themselves. For then they despair to be able to satisfy their pleasures from now on, and this is the memory of these past pleasures that makes them enter into despair. Not everything they see on earth is clean than to put rage in their hearts, because everything becomes contrary to them.
Portrait of a socialite at deathbed.
Will it be a socialite, intimate friend of the patient, and his accomplice, or even several friends of this Kind, who will come to surround the bed of this poor dying man for the console? But here's the language they say about their poor friend: We must not, they say, talk to him about death, nor Warn him that he is dying, because it would upset him too much. There you go What happens, and this damned language stands between loved ones parents even. Alas! they don't need to warn him That he is dying, he feels it only too well. We must therefore rejoice This poor dying man, we must recreate him. So they will talk to each other about what they know they did to him pleasure during his life, balls, parties, finally all that suggests to them the imagination, or rather the evil spirit. For this moribund, all the pleasures they tell him are as much swords which they throw into his heart; the pain he has Feeling does not come from a bitter contrition of the sins he committed, but regret for the pleasures of the world he leaves. When his strength abandons him, and the weakness overwhelms him, he begins to feel frequently failures of death; his head blurs, and he said a few words that he could hardly articulate. So all his Friends and his compatriots abandoned him and never returned.
Parents bring in a priest to confess him: but the minister of the Lord draws from it a few words which he has difficulty in understanding; finally he makes an act of contrition, which the priest makes to him pronounce as best he can; Then, as he is afraid that he will pass, he gives him absolution and communion, the last sacraments that are Relief and consolation
penitent souls, but who do not become for him, and the sinners who resemble, that trouble and despair.
Despair of the dying sinner.
This despair begins at the sight of the priest who comes to announce the word of God. This minister is trying to insinuate him into the mind and in the heart faith, love of God, hope in his mercies, and bitter contrition. But alas! it is none of those things; quite the opposite. The Moribund begins from this moment his hell with a rage of despair that is still revived by the fear that revolts his senses to the only word of God's love, for he sees in himself his conscience charged with all crimes, which condemns to eternal misfortune; it seems to him to feel and glimpse the demons around his bed, who accuse him, and who make him know sins that he did not have Never thought. It seems to him that they are waiting for his soul criminal, which is theirs, to take him to hell.
For the ordinary, these Terrible approaches of demons take place only when the soul will soon come out of the body; The devil then throws him his more Great venom to prevent him from returning to God. This poor dying man, at the In the midst of his sorrows, has almost only a sigh: he makes a effort to rise to his God; But, what do I say? alas! he is no longer his God; it is a vengeful God who arms against him the thunderbolts and tiles of his justice, and who is ready to condemn it!
Poor soul! at Who shall you have recourse, since the author of all help and all Assistance abandons you? This dying man sees that there is no longer a cure to his doom, and, as if he were not damned enough, He damns himself even more: he enters into hatred and animosity against God himself, and, like demons, he blasphemes against him, and, if he cannot do it with his mouth, he does it with his heart. Out of despair he again gave himself to the
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demon and consents that he will take away her soul when she comes out of his corpse; He surrenders to him to be forever with him in hell.
The hour of this poor soul came; there is no more time for her, no more hope, More mercy. She comes out of her body in impenitence final, and it is carried by the demons before the Sovereign Judge, who said to him in a thunderous tone: Withdraw from me; Go to the eternal fire, which has been prepared for demons and for those who served them.
The Sister strongly urges sinners to take advantage of This example and not to wait until death to convert.
Consider present, worldly souls, and you, sinners attached to your criminal passions, and who live in Impenitence, consider all these things and the Meditate. You console yourself on a good peccavi to the time of death; Death has come, and the good peccavi, Where is he? Can you not die as reprobates, like that poor dying man whose sad I have just told you end? Ah! Take care! if you live as reprobates, You run the risk of dying in reprobate, and of receive, at God's judgment, the same sentence that struck the reprobates.
Where is currently The consolation you have, not to be witnesses Terrible signs that must precede judgment general? alas
! are you more assured of your salvation? Are you more covered appalling misfortunes that will precede this judgment general? Consider the fears and evils of This poor dying man: besides the sorrows of his interior, of which I have spoken, and which are caused to him by the sight of the demons, he sees outside all his friends and his closest relatives, who abandoned him; All this great universe, all its pleasures, the very clarity of the day, faint, and his darkened eyes reveal to him More than thick darkness: he can no longer talk with no one; His ears even can no longer hear. Alas! Tell me, all these accidents, all these Woes, gathered together in one person, do not Are they not worth well, or even are they not more terrible than those who will precede the judgment? Can't this dying man not telling the truth: Here I am at the end of the world! Here I am at death! Here I am at the judgement! If it is not general, it will not be more favorable for the one who dies in reprobate.
What will you do to be fifty years or two centuries in hell, waiting for the general judgment? you will only suffer more, and you will not be free from the fears of this judgement. It is of the reprobates that it is said: Rocks, mountains, fall upon us, crush us, so that we do not let us appear not before the sovereign Judge of the universe.
ARTICLE III.
On Perfection and Christian virtues, especially on the faith and love of God, fundamental virtues of salvation.
§. I.
Vision in which the Sister learns what the true perfection.
Here's an example I got shows the Lord to those who want to strive for perfection.
The Angel guardian of the Sister is responsible for leading her where God intends to fix it.
One day, Our Lord says: "Here is your guardian Angel who will lead you to where I want you to go: Obey Him. This angel appeared to me in the form of a Young man as aged from fifteen to sixteen. He had an air all celestial, and filled with great sweetness, Charity and kindness towards me. He tells me :Follow me.
Diverse places through which it passes.
He led me by paths and in completely unknown countries. We found a community; I wanted to see the nuns; They were very popular. I wanted to stay there: my good Angel is there. strongly opposed, saying: This is not where God wants you. I continued to follow him. In our path we met with devotees, who committed me to go and stay with them. My good Angel again opposed it. We went further by deserted places. There, there is had a hermitage of men and a hermitage of girls far from that of men. I wanted to come in In the hermitage of the girls and see their home. They had a small chapel that was adorned with all kinds of devotions, even curious, and lined with images
representing life and the death of Our Lord. It was like a little paradise. I liked myself very much there, and I said to my good Angel: I will stay here; but he said to me again: No; It is not the God's will. So I follow him again.
The Angel leaves her alone in a desert and gives her a book to meditate.
He led me to a Dark forest that had nothing pleasant but silence and peace; it was so filled with wood, that in the middle of noon it It was dark or very little daylight. In a small location of the forest, where the wood had been felled, and which was no larger than the location of a house, my good angel said to me: Stay there, this is where God wants you. I brought me to my knees; he gave me a book and said: This is the case. what God gives you to meditate in this wilderness; Meditate well. And at the same time he disappeared.
Content of the book. Sister's conduct and instruction of Our Lord.
When I live alone, without knowing where I was, and without knowing anyone, I Read in Extreme Sorrow and Sorrow: A Moment Later I say to myself: I must read my book; he
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will be my consolation: he comes from God; There will be beautiful things. I opened the book. Top of all the folios there was: God alone, and nothing but these words, God alone. Everything else was white.
Night was approaching, which made me shudder with fear and dread. So I had recourse to God through weeping and groaning. Lord I said, have mercy on me; See the state where I am! Our Lord came to my rescue, and said to me, "My child, But read your book. "Lord, there is almost no Nothing to read. Our Lord answered me, "There are has a lot; meditate only these two words; there are more than you will observe. However you can with the help of my grace. Attach yourselves only to me; Quit all creatures, both good and bad: do not hold to nothing, not even to this book, nor to a image, nor to anything devotional. »
§. II.
Importance of faith. The Sister takes pure faith from childhood for the rule of his conduct.
Faith is of the last consequence. Alas! alas! This virtue is the more neglected! for the greater part of the creatures attach themselves to the vain, not to say criminal, things of the world; forget and despise the Catholic faith and religion, Apostolic and Roman: it is to her, however, that we need Attach oneself, be firm and unwavering against all powers of hell, by whom it is always fought
Conduct of the sister by pure faith.
It is this precious faith that has always sustained me in the course of my life. From my childhood, and as soon as I was told that I was child of God and of the Holy Catholic Church, I clung to her as to God himself; and me there Holding fast as an unshakable column, I Put aside all extraordinary consolations, and even the ordinary, that is to say, I did not use any. than for the purposes for which God communicated them to me, and that I looked at them, and examined them only in the light of faith. If I discovered something that was contrary to faith, as soon as I saw it I saw it rejected away from me never to think about it again, strongly persuaded that everything that is contrary to faith is contrary to God. I preferred to converse with God, either by mental prayer, either by vocal prayer, and always on the truths of the evangelical faith, the Maxims and the Mysteries of Holy Religion. I didn't have no sweeter consolation than when God left in my inside the pure practice of faith, and when I did not taste nor felt any sensible consolation other than that of naked faith.
God gave me grace to favor me, in almost all the course of my life, of practice of this pure faith; and if God willed to make me known several extraordinary things, it was for the purposes he made me see: these lights were imprinted in me only to perform the things which God had commanded me, and to obey. Obedience done, I did not attach myself no more visions or revelations; that came out of my memory and my Mind, as if nothing had happened to me, and I found in this
Happy practice of faith, a practice I hope to preserve, through grace of God, and in whom I want to live and die.
As I believe it is by faith and love that one wins the heart of God, it is also through faith and love that we overcome the harshest punishments and the most dangerous temptations, all the afflictions of the spirit, the soul, and even the body, since it is of faith that it is his holy Providence that gives us household and who gives us in due course all the crosses that He has destined us in the whole course of our lives.
The Sister falls into great aridity and believes she does not love God.
I will report here a It is pained that it pleased Our Lord to send me, After that I had renounced the grid, and then, by an act I had also, for God's sake, renounced any natural affection for creatures, not wanting them to love only in God and for God in the union of J.'s charity. C., in order to attach myself only to God, I felt such a Great dryness in my interior for all that looked upon God, and with it such nakedness of faith, that he I had to remember the vows of my baptism and The first truths of my religion, for me revive and strengthen me in Christian practices and nuns that I had to fill in my community. Oh! how incriminating and tiring this sentence was! I don't sustained me only by the pure spirit of faith; It even seemed that I missed faith, or that I was hanging on by a thread. Concerning the love of God, I promised myself that after I had free from all earthly affections and human, I would no longer find any impediment to love perfectly God; And in this I still thought I was frustrated by All that
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that I had hoped for; but I kept reminding myself of faith; it was only her who could comfort me; for, as I said to myself, it is of true faith that God is everywhere, that God sees me and knows me in the disposition where I am. I was doing From this thought my only support and my only consolation. Sometimes I had very sorrowful thoughts: Well! Here you have left the world, renounced to natural friendships, which
makes the consolation and the Pleasure of companies: you did this to love better the good Lord; See if you like him more. On the contrary, you don't like neither God nor creatures; You are like a dead member who has no No more life actions.
In this great sorrow the Sister has recourse to pure faith.
These reproaches seemed to me to bring death to the heart thinking that I did not love God, and that everything I did or thought for God was not than dead works. To turn me back to the side of the creatures, I was too disgusted, and I recognized too much the abuse, the nothingness of this love purely natural. So I then turned back to the side of God saying: Lord, you know the miserable state where I am not to be able to love you; but, my God, faith Learn, you are a mighty God within yourself, a God filled with glory and majesty, that angels and Saints worship and love infinitely. You will be eternally a glorious God and filled with eternal bliss At these words I said: O my God! with a
Great desire for you To love, I have the misfortune not to love you; but, O my God! You are, and that's enough for me. In my affliction, I repeated several times in a row: God is, and that is enough for me. I was changing sometimes saying: God is eternal, and repeating : God is eternally happy; I want to love him in himself and for himself. For me, I will become everything he does. Like. I meant by these feelings that I put All my strength, all my bliss, even my paradise, in the eternal Being of God; and in this my soul trembled with joy and gladness, saying with all my heart: Dîeu est, and that is enough for me.
When the demon came to annoy me and make me heard: Thou shalt be damned, all your actions are lost before God, because you do not love Him No, I couldn't find anything to say, except to raise my spirit in God, and to consider all his admirable Perfections. My heart felt such great consolation, that, forgetting myself, I said: God is, and this Enough.
His generous and selfless faith.
Once, while I was in this sorrow, a nun told me about the business of my salvation, and told me that this business was the only one we had to do in this world, and that it It had to be taken to heart.
I thought that I did not love the good God, and that my salvation was well at risk. To this I replied: My sister, I gave up my salvation
in the hands of God, to way that I only want and seek the pure glory of God: May the good Lord do with me whatever pleases him.
Suppose God makes me to know that he has united a soul to mine, that he also let me know that one or the other must be damned, and that, even, God, leaving the thing to my choice, says to me, I give you the choice; If you want, it will be you who will come into my kingdom, and this other will be damned.
However, if it Came to my kingdom, she would glorify me much more than you. In this supposition, speaking to the nun, I Boldly replied that I would sacrifice my salvation for the sake of glory of God, and for that soul that would glorify him more than Me in paradise.
Sound impotence in prayer.
This sentence lasted several years. years; I cannot say positively how many. What distressed me more, it was that I was losing entirely time for prayer. When I was with the community before the Blessed Sacrament, and the point of prayer was being read, I said to myself: I will apply myself well, in order to Hold back the reading to try to do my prayer well. When The reading was done, I couldn't remember anymore of the last word than of the first. I spent a lot of time at search on which topic the reading had been made. When I found something, I seized it, thinking I was holding it; It was in vain, it passed like lightning, and I did not I found nothing at all that I could apply myself to. When I I saw this, I remained in the presence of God before the Blessed Sacrament, and I stopped there without saying anything, for I couldn't remember anything. When the superior gave the signal to finish the prayer, I rose like the others; I said to our Lord: Well! my Lord, I go away as I came; I wasted all the time at prayer.
Sacrifice heroic of the Sister, who finally delivers her from this long sentence.
Other times, in prayer, I made kind of reproaches to God, saying, Lord, it is however very sad for me not to love you! I renounce for the sake of you, and to please you, to all the natural love of creatures, and I don't want to do it retract; I only want to love them in pure charity. Well, Lord,
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I make you a sacrifice the happiness I would have to love you; I offer you the penalties What do I have from my desires to love you and not to power. My God, I submit to spend the rest of my days in the sorrow where I am, and I will never return to creatures; their friendships, the pleasures of being there taste are too bland and too bitter. If you don't want to, O My god! that I love you, I will spend the rest of my life at liking nothing at all. I hope, O my God! that you me Will do the grace to love you at least in eternity.
It seemed to me that this divine Savior was only waiting for this sacrifice from me to take away my sorrow, so swiftly was I delivered from my insensibilities and all the blindness of my mind, and that without knowing how. Suddenly the beautiful light, coming as from the sun of righteousness, enlightened and penetrated my understanding, and gladdens my soul, surprised by a Happy change.
§. III.
From how the Sister made her prayer throughout the his life. Method of prayer to him taught by Our Lord.
I will report again something about prayer, and generally about what has happened to me about this all my life. Never No one taught me how to pray; I believe that there is no had only God himself.
From her childhood the Sister cared for God and meditated on the in the middle of the fields, without knowing that she was praying.
From my tender childhood, when I was alone in the fields to guard the cows, I thought, without knowing that it was doing prayer, and that it was pleasing to God. I Talked to me, most of the mornings, sometimes on the mysteries of the passion of Our Lord, sometimes on the judgments of God; other times about hell, and all that that came to my mind about God. I am concerned let in as if I had been there, without knowing that it was an oration or a prayer. I I only thought they were
things that looked at God and the salvation of our souls, and that it was good to think about it and to talk about it.
Entrance In religion, she does not know how to go about praying.
I was in this mistake until I entered religion. When I saw the religious, after the reading of the point of prayer, be at Kneeling in silence, I was very worried in myself of what they were doing. I asked some nuns; They replied that they were praying. I don't did not satisfy; I did not understand what this I did not know what to put in this prayer. I sometimes thought that it was these prayers that are found. in books, in which prayer is put at the beginning of prayers. I remembered that in the instruction of my Catechism, which I had been taught, there were two kinds of prayers, mental and vocal; than mental prayer was done of mind and heart in his interior, without pronouncing words; but I thought it was like the Pater and the Ave which was said in his heart without pronouncing.
She uses the method of prayer prescribed in the books, but without success.
With all this I do not was no more skillful. My mistress was so busy, that she did not direct me. I had recourse to the books. I found some who instructed me how to do it. I say to myself, O my God, I have never prayed; You have to work and apply myself to do it. I wanted to Learn the method I found in the books to put it into practice. There were times when I Applied myself, by the force of my mind, to follow the Practices; Finally, the prayer was over than I was. not yet able to follow all this method prayer found in books; With this a dry heart like matches, the mind bandaged, and always in a kind of violence. I said to God, very displeased: So that's how you want us to pray!
She makes prayer and believes not to do so.
Sometimes it happened that When I began to pray, when I invoked the Holy Spirit, and that I put myself in the presence of God, our Savior made His presence so sensitive to me that He drew to him my mind and my understanding, and that forgetfulness All methods of prayer, I do not
thought more. When the Superior gave the signal to get out of the prayer, which, at What it seemed to me, had only lasted me a moment, I went out however with the others, very dissatisfied with my fate. Ah! Lord, I said, I did not pray. Finally, Lord, I can only do it; I forgot the method, and I I didn't think about it at all.
I was going back to my work, where I used to speak very little, and I reflected on the main points that had me the most touched in the reading I had done in the morning. For The ordinary, my readings were on life, death and passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Gospel.
Our The Lord taught him a method of prayer that succeeded him.
Our Adorable Savior Seeing the embarrassment and pain I was in relation to prayer, delivered me himself, and made me known that I had to leave the method of books. He taught me himself, saying, "Think and think in your heart, when you
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» are at prayer, and meditate on it in the way you Do while working. Then God said to me: When you put yourself to prayer, either in particular or with the Community, Put yourselves in my presence with humility, invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit; I take care of providing you and you mark the materials on which prayer is to be made.
Ordinarily You must, when entering to prayer, look within yourself what displeases my Majesty most, and always work to destroy your passion dominant, unless I attract your heart elsewhere and your mind. Continue during your prayer the destruction of your passions, as I told you. I began to practice, As far as I could, these good lessons with the help of the grace. Fortunately I stayed in myself to see in what mistakes I fell most often. I saw in particular that it was pride and self-esteem that made me dominated, and that it was by this passion that I I committed the other sins.
She receives the gift of tears to mourn his sins.
The Lord left me about a year in this manner of prayer, and I do not do not remember that God has favored me so much with the gift of tears than in these matters. At prayer I could not have defend myself from it; It was like a sweet violence in which it was impossible for me to resist. Although I was in a secluded place, where the nuns did not could even see me in the face, it happened that some noticed. There were some curious ones, who, at the At the end of the prayer, came to look me in the face to see if I had cried, then they returned, smiling. They went to my mistress, and told her that I had temptations and sorrows of mind, which I only wept to prayer, and that she had to direct me. One Sometimes, coming out of prayer, my mistress came to speak to me, and said to me, My Sister, what have you to weep so much? What Do you have? I replied that I had no other Punishments than those of my sins and in particular of my pride.
She couldn't know anything else. Thing, except that I was weeping for my sins.
She meditates on the mysteries.
Our Lord made me Continue this way of prayer for some time. Sometimes, especially in the great feasts of in the year, Our Lord changed my prayer, and made me ordinarily meditate on the mysteries that these feasts Represent. Since then, I have abandoned myself in his hands, especially for prayer. When you read the point of prayer, I listened to it like the others. When I began to prayer, in the moment Our Lord drew me to him on another subject, in which, as much as I could, I made myself faithful to follow his attractions, without having received any advice or advice from anyone but God on my prayer.
She fears being wrong; Our Lord reassures her.
Sometimes I would come to the thought that I was wrong, because I said to me: The nuns all pray on the same No prayer, and I do it on another. It seems that I do not Am not the community. On this Our Lord made me know that it was not necessary to do all prayer on the same subject; that we didn't have all the same needs, and that not all were called to the same degree of grace; that for me, I had to follow it; that when he pleased, he would make me pray on reading, and that at this mark I would know that The attraction of grace would fall on the common point of prayer. I therefore made a firm resolution not to
to step aside, in my prayer, counsel, and advice God had given me, Some sorrows and temptations that could happen to me.
One Confessor confirms it in his way of praying.
Thirty years later I found myself under the guidance of a confessor who wanted to make me give an account of my conscience. I told him that when I Wines in religion I had had much trouble to pray, and I reported to him something of what Our Lord had told me to this topic. He replied that I had done very well to let the method of books, and that he would not have wanted me to The would have followed. I gave him an account of how God was leading me, and how I prayed; He replied that I was doing well, and that for him he was doing it pretty much in the same way. I was very consoled by her approval, because I had a certain fear of deceive, and I desired to have the opinion of a person of the Church in whom I could put my trust.
Feelings of the Sister on the books that deal with the purgative life, illuminative, and unitive.
Here's what I I asked this good priest about reading the books that deal with the conduct of souls, as, by example, of purgative, illuminative and unitive life. I tell him declared my feelings on this, telling him that I had never tasted books dealing with conduct
from souls, to less than there was any question of the purgative life, and that, until that when I died, I would always have something to destroy, defects to correct and my heart to purify. The priest replied that in this I still had
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Ok fact, and that without it the devil can easily deceive the Souls.
§. IV.
That who wants to return to God and walk & the continuation of Our The Lord must conduct Himself by faith and by the love of God.
The faith and observance of precepts out of love is the only way which leads to God.
This is what Our Lord taught me, and what he wants all souls to follow who desire to follow him. They must take as the principle of their actions the faith which leads right to God, and may they make themselves known especially by love of His holy law and His various commandments. It's by this way that God withdraws souls, even the most great sinners, from the quagmire of sin, and may he leads a soul faithful to the fundamental virtues of Hello.
From what I see in God for faith, hope and charity, he seems that a soul who practices these good works cannot perish. If it falls, it rises by these virtues Solid. God delivers her from all dangers and opportunities perilous to offend him. Finally, it seems to me that in Fighting by these virtues, she is delivered from all. the unfortunate accidents that can happen to him throughout the course of her life, and which would lead her to perdition.
Vision which confirms this truth. The Sister is in a deep lake and sees Our Lord on a height.
Here is an example that will represent and trace what we have written here- top. The Spirit of the Lord led me one day into a very deep and surrounded by heights. On a height close to the lake, I saw Our Lord, in human form, walking on Along an alley that was on the height. I, I seer on all sides surrounded of all kinds of peril, without any help, I say to myself: This is the Lord, only He can draw me from where. I am. I say this in the spirit of a living faith that made me hearing that I had to be helped and do my best to get out of this lake and climb on the heights to reach right at Our Lord. I was persuaded by faith that Our Lord could at the moment, by His power, pull me out of this peril without it costing me; but I see it also by faith that I had to work myself and try to go up, and that thus I could firmly hope to reach him.
Efforts which she does to ascend and reach Our Lord.
In this moment, employing With all my strength, I pulled myself out of this quagmire and went straight up to the height where I saw Our Lord. So much happened to me accidents before reaching Our Lord, that without the faith that sustained me, I would have been completely discouraged, and I would have lost all hope. When I had done three to Four steps uphill, the land collapsed and I fell back downstairs. As quickly I went up, and almost immediately I was falling back. I cannot say how many times these misfortunes happened to me. There were times I had gone up, with much pain, almost to the top of the mountain, in me taking to all that I thought fit to support me, to small crowns (1) that came out of the ground; at The moment they came to my hand, I fell back heavily almost in the middle of the precipice, and I saw myself in a state worse than before.
(1) Spikes shrubs.
Overwhelmed by tiredness, and in spite of all my efforts, I realized that, Far from moving forward, I was going backwards. I felt in my interior a great despair that prevented me from doing new efforts to go up. I confess that without the faith that returned to My help, I would not have had the courage to climb back to the top of the mountain, so fast was it; but reviving me with a New courage, I resolved not to waste time and to work unceasingly to reach Our Lord, when I should have died in the work.
Test to which Our Lord puts the Sister before the deliver from peril.
So here I am goes up with ordinary fatigue, and I reach the nearest high; so I could put my arms on the edge of the aisle where was Our Lord. He passed very close to me without pretending to see myself; I shouted: Lord, have mercy on me; Give me your hand, or I will perish. Our Lord draws near, stands before me with some indifference, and leaves me some time in the extremity where I was, without me give no help. I, in my interior, never ceased to say, Lord, give me your hand; and begging him, I I held the ground with one hand, and I held out the other. Our Lord comes to me and say: Do you love me? I answer: Ah! yes, Lord, I love you. But instead
to give me his first hand, this Divine Savior bends down, puts his hand on my heart and holds him there for a moment (as if to let me know that he searched hearts), to see if there were truly loved; then taking me by the hand, I found myself in the moment on the height, where I walked with Our Lord about half an hour. There, our
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Lord taught me in particular on the great commandment of his holy love; and I congratulated me, feeling my heart in love with the fire of his divine love; and rejoicing to be in the presence of my God, I believed that everything was over and that I would no longer have to suffer.
New works of the Sister. It crosses narrow planks and suspended over the waters.
But, alas! I was mistaken in my waiting! By the time I had this thought, our Divine Savior turned to me and said, " Not everything is done; You still have a long way to go; and showing me a little path so rough and narrow, that brambles and intertwined thorns touched each other from one side of the road to the other, "That's it. your way, Our Lord tells me; You have to walk there. » I say: Ah! Lord, I cannot; It is impossible for me to may you go, if you do not come with me. Our Lord said to me, " Well! I will go with you; " and immediately he passes in front of me. I was very consoled to have Our Lord with me. At the end of this little path he found himself boards that were not half a foot wide, and that were suspended on the middle of a vast expanse of water whose end I did not see. When we arrived near these boards, Our Lord told me that it was necessary pass these boards. I say, Lord, I can't put the foot. Our Lord said to me, "Fear not; if you have Faith and my love, you will go through everything. » I say, Lord, please give me your hand. There you go the Lord who gives me his hand. I hardly felt walk; the Lord led me with such speed and lightness, that I had no pain, but pleasure.
The The Sister's works are an example for sinners who want to do penance.
When we were well advanced on the waters, Our Lord said to me: "He I must not always hold your hand, for you would not have so much merit; You have to behave by faith and that you walk alone on all the boards that You have to pass in your way, especially since, in you Walking these paths, I want you to serve as an example to the sinners, that they may return to penance by my grace, and may it serve you of penance for your sins. Have no fear; I will leave you, but my Spirit will lead you everywhere where I want you to go: I will be with you by my grace and my love. I say: Ah! Lord, in my affliction, to the less walk two or three steps in front of me, to see if I can walk alone after you. The Lord granted it to me. I put myself to walk alone, and I become emboldened. Our Lord said to me, " Good luck, my child; you can see that you are walking well alone; And at the same time he disappeared, and I found myself at the in the midst of waters, in a foreign land, and without assistance from no person.
Generosity of his faith and love.
I armed myself with courage; I trusted in God's grace and love, and began to walk with great difficulty. The road seemed so much to me long! My mind was so seized with fear and boredom! The The tiredness that my body felt overwhelmed me, and even Sometimes my legs wobbled and trembled with fear. If I stopped me a little to rest, it was then that he It seemed to me that I was going to be submerged in the waters. I took courage and continued my journey with excess.
She passes through a muddy swamp.
Arrival finally at the end of the boards, on the edge of a shore, the spirit of the Lord led by a very difficult path which was like a swamp filled with waters so muddy that it seemed that at Any moment I was going to be swallowed up.
She arrives at the edge of a very narrow plank, above a lake Full of venomous reptiles, figure of demons.
This path was Still a long time. It resulted in a very long board that was suspended on two stone pillars. This board, which was not no wider than three fingers, was in the middle of a path about fifteen feet wide, very deep and filled with the sewer of the marshes that I had just passed.
His rumpled waters were filled with aspics, scorpions, snakes and several other venoms (1) that stuck out their tongues and stood on the tips of their tails with rage and fury.
(1) Venomous reptiles.
I was then on the end of the board from which I considered these great Dangers. I began to call God to my help, to beg him to have mercy on me, saying that I was going to perish, if he did not come to my aid. So I found revived with great courage, and hoping that God would strengthen me by His grace.
God made me known, by an inner light, than this lake was not far from hell, and that the spirit of the devil was in the bodies of these snakes to animate and irritate against all persons who, falling into this lake, immediately lose their lives and fall into hell.
I was waiting for the presence of Our Lord, and I desired to see him again in human form, that he might extricate me from this awful danger; but no, I knew that the spirit of the Lord impelled me to walk.
Big She is in danger. His courage. Our Lord delivers her.
When I was a little advanced on the board, the fright of the snakes that were underneath tripped me: I saw
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when I was going to fall under the board. God allowed me not to hold back arms to the board, which I began to shake with all my strength, and I remained suspended under her about a quarter of time, stiffening my whole body, in order to achieve Put my feet back on the board. I invoked the Lord of all my strengths; He immediately appeared to me on the board, and said to me
Good luck, my child, it's all over soon; you are above your sorrows; and at the same moment I found myself, by a slight effort, at knees crooked on the board I was holding on to by both hands. I say, Lord, behold the peril where I am; give me your hand; without your helping hand and Almighty I cannot take a step. Our Lord, with a admirable kindness, took my hand and said, My child, your penance is done; It will serve as an example to all souls who will want to follow me.
Then Our Lord, from His powerful hand, took me out of peril and carried me by the air with him even on the great waters I had passed, and on which there were boards. When Our Lord Me gave my hand, I felt light as a no one who does not feel at all the gravity of his body, and I I found myself walking dry-footed on the waters like Our Lord. He led me to a meadow and disappeared.
Explanations of this vision that contains lessons for all, and especially for great sinners.
This is what the Lord made me known, in its light, on what concerns the path he took me on; on fatigues, fears, fears and dangers to which I was exposed. All these kinds of things are meaningful and good to observe, both for me and for all others, and especially for the great sinners and for all those who have given in many Great deviations outside the Holy Catholic Religion, Apostolic and Roman, provided they enter into the bosom of the Holy Church, making all reparations required for their crimes, as I see in God.
1°. It takes great effort to get out of sin and return to God.
Our Lord wants Let me say a few words about that. First, this large lake where I was, and whence I saw Our Lord on the heights, means, by the fatigue I felt to go to God, all the fatigues and setbacks of penance, and how much it costs sinners to return to God.
2°. There is no true conversion without conversion of heart.
Second, indifference with whom God received me, asked me if I loved him, and examined to the depths of my heart whether I was telling the truth, signifies the examination that Our Lord will make at the time when the Sinner will return to him, to the court of penance. It will probe to the centre of
his heart; he will search through the folds and folds of his consciousness, and he will see if what the penitent confesses with mouth is really in his heart, if there is love, and if his heart is truly contrite and humiliated. If the sinner to these necessary and required provisions, Our Lord will have mercy by giving him his hand and drawing him to He by the absolution of the priest. But, woe, woe, woe to the unrepentant, deceitful and deceitful sinners who come to the court of penance without these provisions. I tell you, I see in God that He will overthrow them, instead of their give his hand, and make them fall to the depths quagmire of sin, from which they pretend to want to go out, making yourself more guilty and more criminal than before. They may deceive the Lord's ministers, but they cannot deceive God.
3°. Joy and peace of conscience of the truly penitent sinner.
Thirdly, I see in God that all the way the Lord made me travel, and the great waters which I passed with so much trouble and difficulty, but aided and led by Our Lord, mean that the sinner, who returned to God by a good Confession, is found in jubilation and in great peace of conscience. I see in the Lord that he says to him, as he tells me. told myself when I thought I had done everything
: You still need To work; You still have a long way to go.
4°. The work of penance must last until the death.
Fourth, it is while he makes them walk by the arduous path and laborious of penance, filled with the waters of tribulation, which can only be passed with the help of grace and fundamental virtues of religion. I cannot explain that; It is understandable that I mean all kinds of crosses and afflictions of body and mind that lead us to death, because the true penitent must pass the course of his life, until his last breath, in the spirit of a true penance.
5°. The demon redoubles his attacks as death approaches. Live Trust of the penitent soul.
Fifthly Finally, this board suspended above snakes and aspics, that God has conveyed to me in the vision reported above designates the poor sinners, and I myself the First, at the hour of death. It seems that at This moment all demons are in motion and exercise
their malice to attract A poor penitent soul in the abyss of hell. I see in God that the more this soul has done penance, and The more virtues she has practiced, the more demons repeat
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of efforts to delight her, to saying to each other: If we miss it at this time, it is In fact, it is lost to us for all eternity.
But, take courage, good Penitent soul, do not be afraid by the whistling snakes and vipers; Do not fear the bite of the aspics; God is ready to rescue you. If he delays A moment, it is only to test yourself more; thus Wait and never get discouraged. It is certain that this Kind Savior will come, and He will speak these sacred words unto you "Fear not, I am with you; Take courage, you are at End of your sorrows, everything is soon over. So this Poor soul who sees himself almost lost, throws a momentum of love to his God, saying: Lord, save me from this danger and give me your hand. At the same time this God of goodness said to him: It is done, your penance and all your Sentences are over And with his almighty hand he takes it away from him, in
separating his soul from her body, and delivering her forever from the tyranny of passions and devil.
§. V.
On the lights of Faith.
At the occasion of a canvas book, Our Lord makes known to the Sister what the light of faith consists of.
One day I was at work in the community hall, or employed a blank canvas intended to be used for hairdressing of the nuns. It was about making a large hem flat, one inch wide. The Superior of that time judged it fitting, that this hem might be straight, that a thread was pulled
along the canvas, in order to to make the hem straight. I saw the nuns who had a hard time pulling that thread, and I admired it I myself the skill and finesse of the human mind for To bring this little work to its greatest perfection.
In the evening, being in Our cell, I began to pray. Instead of consider and meditate on the subject, I forgot myself, and Suddenly I found myself thinking about this book. which my Superior had done, and in my mind I took care of everything related to this work. In a wink Our Lord appeared to me and said, "You That's well absorbed, my child, thinking about the work of your Superior. I was confused, all the more that Our Lord had caught me at fault and thinking of useless things; Because, in particular, I said to myself to Myself: My Superior will not tell me to help do this work, because I don't have good enough eyesight. I am said again, If she compelled me to do so, should I obey her? I thought that yes, that we should obey well, and that so I would I would do the best I could.
It was in those thoughts that Our Lord surprised me. He presented me with a piece of White linen as snow, and of extreme finesse, in me saying, "Here, my child, see if you can see the thread. of that canvas.
I started to look at it and consider it; But, alas, ! I soon said, Lord, it is impossible for me to be able to see only one thread, and I can't pull a single thread out of it. I see this canvas as plain as a parchment. Our Lord Me answered: "I believe it, my child, that you do not See not. I will give you a light that will enlighten the eye of faith, which you have not purified enough. »
At the same time he presented a large candle, similar to a paschal candle, that shone with a flame that wasn't quite Like the flame of a material fire. This flame was of an incarnate so pure and so celestial; it rose with so much vivacity, and in such an agile and subtle, that she always seemed to act without consuming anything from the candle. Then Our Lord said to me: "Open your hands, it is necessary that you held it. I thought it was the hands of the body. I made an effort to move my arms a little and open my hands, in order to receive the candle. I thought I was going to grab a candle hardware; but no, my hands joined on nothing, and yet I saw the candle which Our Lord had placed on me between hands.
It was then that my soul was illuminated with a new light all Celestial and all divine on what concerns particularly the truths of faith. At that time, Our Lord represented the linen to me and said, "See, my
child. » I live clear in this fine linen, and it seemed to me to distinguish all the different beauties, and all the delicacy of this book.
Light of faith opposed to purely human light.
Our Lord added: " My child, you admire your Superior for the work she has had it done; Here is one which is of a different delicacy; it is the work of the Holy Spirit that is directly opposed to all the delicacies, all the finesse of the human spirit. The people of the world push their delicacy even in their clothes, in their drinking, in their eating, and in This they act by the worldly spirit. But among nuns, those who do so sin
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" against the perfection of their condition, and show that they retain Something more of the manners of the world in their minds. When they would only tie a pin with an air affected, and by the spirit of the world, I dislike; And these are faults to be purified at least in the purgatory.
For you, my child, do not go and edify yourself badly of your Superior, although I have made known to you that his delicacy displeased. I don't dislike sin only according to view and malice: and your Superior does not thought I didn't think I disliked. These are the mistakes of blindness. and ignorance that is forgotten. »
The people consecrated to God commit many Faults to atone for in purgatory, acting by the spirit human.
Our Lord made me To know in its light that, even in the persons consecrated to God at the hour of dead, there is a pile of faults that they have committed by human ignorance, by forgetfulness, and by their lack of fidelity to observe the little things. It is an abyss of faults that it is necessary to go and atone in purgatory by terrible punishments and Long. This is where they see that they have plotted and fabric. A web that must be destroyed by penance, in the undoing wire to wire.
Our Lord said to me, " Arm yourselves with the light of faith that illuminates the inside from within, and purifying the heart. Have the purity of intention in all words, in all actions and in all penalties; for he who will become accustomed to be faithful in the little things, I will preserve it by my grace to fall into great sins."
Our Lord gives the Sister the torch of faith to lead and fight the enemies of the faith.
Our Lord said to me, " For you, my child, I give you the torch of faith for you Driving in different chances, in bad ones Encounters and in the places of darkness by which You will have to pass. You will be attacked and upset because of my Church and myself, in defending my gospel against evil arguments that you will have to fight. But I tell you again: Be faithful to follow and practice the spirit of the faith. »
The The gift of faith is a spiritual gift.
I asked Our Lord, in all humility, why the candle I saw, and that he had put me in my hands, did not make himself feel at the touch? Our Lord answered me: "My child, this Kind of grace is too holy and too divine to be sensitive to the senses. It is given to you to strengthen your faith, and to fight the enemies of faith. For the ordinary, the graces I give to strengthen or increase faith are all spiritual, and for the ordinary they do not fall under the senses."
I say again: Lord, When you told me to receive the candle in my hands, why Did I feel such great restraint throughout my body and in all my limbs, for moving my arms and my arms a little hands with effort, in order to grasp the candle you presented to me ? Our Lord answered me: "My child, I have acted to the kind on purpose to make you see and know that the The gift I gave you was all spiritual, that the senses did not had almost no part, and were as if forbidden. »
Belongings that the light of faith worked in the Sister. His obedience and submission to the Church Catholic.
I have to Mark here the impressions that this gift of the torch of faith has made in my soul. By the time I received it, he enlightened my
Meaning by a light supernatural, which made me see, almost in a single moment, how It was necessary to observe the truths of faith and Catholic religion, to be subject to it, and to obey our mother the Holy Church, as to God himself! I saw (as by a I do not know how that I can not explain) This light that traced me a shortened path for go straight to God.
Sound zeal to preserve one's faith and defend it against those who attacked him.
Here's what else she has operated in me, when I had the misfortune to get out of my community. It served me, in my interior, as conduct and warning against all kinds of hazards, and Save against my enemies by preserving me multiple times to fall into their hands. When I was attacked Through my enemies, she put in my mouth what I owed respond to defend my faith; for God has permitted me to was attacked by several enemies of the faith who had me taken to task, in order to convert me, they said, and to lure me into their traps. It was then that I experienced how powerful grace is in perils; she put in my heart and in my mouth what it was to about answering for God and religion.
I had recourse to the book of the Gospel, praying to the Lord to me give, by his grace, the intelligence, in order to theirs explain, and take up arms to fight arguments diabolical that they liked to do to me.
Sometimes, seeing that they were defeated by my answers, and that people who were present laughed, they were irritated, and their minds were troubled. Me, when I saw this, I withdrew until I was called back, and I was made to return to a new attack, in which I had to fight on other articles of faith, or on other points of the Gospel.
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This God of goodness to me protected so closely, that I found in the saint Gospel, which I read and meditated on every days, new graces and new lights, which served me as a relief against my enemies.
When I was Called back to battle, I returned in obedience to my confessors, who had given me the commission.
I cannot say the number assaults that I had to support against them: sometimes even They came to probe me on some of the most important subjects. Important. This God of goodness never allowed me to stay only once without replying to them, and without answering them convincing them that they were wrong, and that in them explaining what I had read in the Holy Gospel, and what Our Lord had said there. I reported the points of the Gospel to confuse several of their objections. Sometimes they made such foolish and humane arguments, mixing the spiritual with natural; Other times they would tell me things so confused on several intertwined doctrines all in all, that I didn't know what to answer them ». As they advocated all this to me, I was just doing cry out to God: My God! Assist me and help me!
The Sister receives special assistance from God. She converts several enemies of the faith.
See here what the grace in the weakest subjects, in a poor woman daughter of a ploughman, who knows what it is to have studied, or to have learned something, especially in terms of their diabolical theology, which throws its venom everywhere, and which turns good into bad. When it happened that God wanted me leave empty when I had to speak, to make me better know his grace, and to give him back everything honor and glory, it was in those moments that God allowed me to speak longer and more about: Suddenly the light illuminated my Understanding, and whole hours and a half passed. sometimes, without me ceasing to speak.
One day, many people had come to the place where all were happening our debates; I found myself in the case that I have just report; suddenly the light of God that I followed in my mind, and who made me speak, came to me lack; I could no longer see a gout, and I spoke a word without knowing what I was going to say next. But who won't admire the God's goodness! in the blink of an eye, without me having Stopped talking for a moment, he put me in my mind and the mouth an admirable subject, which served to make me known how to deliver oneself from heresy, which provided me with the means to combat it, and who gave me the means to fight it, and who gave me the occupation for many years. This God of goodness, by his grace, was victorious, and derived his glory from it; and I was preserved from heresy. There were three or four of those who listened to me, who
declared themselves openly for the right religion, but especially a who was more stubborn than the others, and who, after having been well troubled, had become angry against me when he had seen himself defeated, and no longer had knew what to tell me.
One the attack on the mystery of the incarnation, and it is objected to the misconduct of priests and religious.
The subject that caused me more of sorrow and difficulty, was the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. They only wanted to admit J. C. as man, confessing that he had been crucified and that he was dead, but not wanting to believe he was Risen.
There was yet another something that saddened me the most; because I could hardly find the response to be made; it is that they threw themselves on the conduct of persons consecrated to God, priests, of men and women religious. They would detail their defects, by slandering them falsely and true, in blaming their libertinism, calling their pile of avarice wealth, and saying a hundred other things that it is not permissible to repeat. They called confession madness, and Confessors of ridicule: I could not answer everything that by the words which Our Lord has spoken in the Gospel, on what concerns the Sacrament of Penance and its ministers; and I added that if there were any Judas in the company. of the apostles, that is, in the whole Holy Church, among his ministers, J. C.'s authority was not less estimable, respectable, to be feared and feared by its judgments; and on this I quoted them to the judgment of God with all their falsehoods and perverse speeches, and I asked if then they would be listened to. But, by the thanks to God, there were many who recognized that they were mistaken, and went to confession; so that, before I leave the canton where I Remained, many had the happiness of communion, were well firm in faith, and set a good example by their piety.
Trait admirable of a simple and generous faith in a poor woman country woman.
Here's another word to show how admirable grace is in souls who are faithful to him and who listen to him. I met One day a little country woman, who asked me to read to her the Palm Sunday Gospel, complaining much of the fact that we no longer had priests, nor anyone to announce the word of God. I read to him this
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With pleasure: after having read this gospel, before explaining it to him, and for to know if she was educated, I asked her this what did such a point mean; she answered me, "My sister, I cannot know, I cannot read at all; I don't have of instruction than the one the priests gave me in my childhood to make my Easter, and that of the Monsieur Priest who preached to us in our parish. I insisted: Well, my good friend, tell me what you think about yourself on that point. She replied to the more just according to the truth of faith. I went through all the other points of this gospel, and I began to Ask her again what she thought about it, and what it wanted say. She replied, and (as far as I could know him) in God) she explained to me everything in the truth of faith, and in the lights of the Holy Ghost; and even on The point at which I wanted to instruct him was rather she who taught me, and made me know truths; that I did not know.
I started to ask him about the truths of faith, and about the necessary and required arrangements for confession of one's faith, even at the risk of his life. I can tell you that this Little woman delighted me; I found in her, by her answers, that his soul was as firm as a rock, for Support all different persecutions and tribulations that he would like it is up to God to send her, or to her husband or her children. I came to him, saying: But, my good friend, if it were a point of faith that had to be denied, otherwise You and your husband, children would be sentenced to a cruel death by some kind of terrible torture!... I tell him even represented the tenderness of his grandchildren His heart blossoms with a sense of love of seraph; and she
said to me: My Sister, by the grace of God, I will never deny my faith, and I will never yield to tyrants for all the torments they could make me suffer. It was for God's sake that she gave herself pleasure, and
like A triumph, to see her husband and children die and to die with them for J. C. and for such a good cause.
I admired in myself all the good moves that grace had made in this woman by her fidelity. I could not, until leave her, that she recommend perseverance, urge him to ask God for all the
rest of his life, at seek no other way than that in which the Holy Spirit had put her, to always follow this beautiful path of truths of faith and the gospel, and to learn it to his children.
§. VI.
On Faith, hope and charity, fundamental virtues Salvation.
The Faith, hope and charity, three virtues necessary for salvation.
I have to explain myself here on what I see in God touching the virtues of faith, of hope and Christian charity. By example, I see in God that to make a good Christian, he must have a lively and lively faith; I mean a faith who shows himself by works; that this faith must be accompanied by a firm hope, based on the merits of J. C., which this divine Saviour has put as in deposit in the bosom of the Holy Church, and of a high confidence; that by lovingly observing the law of J. C., that We have all vowed to observe in our baptism, and that being faithful to the grace that J. C. has imprinted in our soul at Holy Baptism by the faith, hope and charity, he will achieve salvation eternal.
The Faith, hope and charity, principle and bond of other virtues.
These three virtues are support and animate each other, and I see in God only when they are well established in a soul that practices acts with the Christian virtues that depend, these three divine virtues still have this power to attract to them all the other virtues in the soul, and to unite them even more closely, by a link all divine, to faith, hope and charity. It is in this, and in this sense, that I see in God. which makes the perfect Christian.
Our Lord, during His mortal life, required an act of faith from those that he wanted to heal.
When Our Lord, During his mortal life, dwelt on earth, and roamed the world to establish His gospel and convert Sinners by
His holy word, I have noticed something that gave me great courage to attach myself more and more to the truths of the faith, and This by a living faith that corresponds to the three theological virtues. So here's what I noticed in the Holy Gospel, preached by Our Lord. The first word he usually addressed to Sinners, when he wanted to bring about the healing of the body and soul, was this: Do you believe, or Do you have faith? These poor sinners answered Yes, Lord, I believe. This adorable Savior did not need to ask them if they had faith; he saw inside their hearts, and he knew better than these poor sinners if they had them or not. But here's what the Lord said to me, "I have used this questioning with my people, to let him know that it was to This virtue of faith I wanted to give him my graces and grant him his requests, and at the same time
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" to show centuries to come the esteem I made of the precious Treasure of faith. How often, our Lord tells me, Am I used by this term, in announcing my holy word! He who believes in me will be saved; but he who does not Will not believe is already judged. »
Outside of the Church, as outside the faith, there is no salvation.
I see in God that out of the Holy Church as well as outside the faith No salvation. Let us tremble, and let us always be afraid of not having this precious treasure of faith; I mean, that faith lively, animated, accompanied by hope and charity, and at the same time all the virtues that God asks, and that he grants us by his graces to become good Christians. let us pray unceasingly to Our Lord that he will gives this precious treasure of faith; Let's say it, like this poor sinner of the Gospel, to whom Our Lord asks if He believed in Him. How he felt his faith Shaky, he answered, "I believe, Lord, but Increase my faith.
Elk of love for the Sister.
I see in God reason for which Our Lord almost always used the motive of faith, not to mention the reason for hope, nor that of charity, which he came to bring to earth to set fire the hearts of all his faithful. This God, who is not That love, has made us the commandment so beautiful and so holy to love him. This divine love, according to the good Saint Paul, is above all other virtues; He made no difficulty in saying that the charity was above faith and hope; and I see in God that love draws all others to oneself virtues as in triumph, and converts them all into love. O love! O holy love! who always burn without ever you Consumer: O love of all eternity! oh eternal love that will never end, and that will last forever, yes, forever as long as God is God.
I see in God, and the reason of faith even reveals it to us, that When a faithful Christian, at the hour of death, will leave the Church militant to unite, by merits of J. C., and to the Church triumphant; It will be then that Faith and hope will be nothing. The Blessed will then see what they have believed by the divine virtue of faith; they will fully possess all that the virtue of hope gave them hope; but for the charity, she will come to flood them from all sides as one fish is in the middle of the sea;
and throughout eternity they will be as if damaged in torrents of delights of love, and of the triumph they will have of possessing that love : they will live only in love and for love.
Reason for which Our Lord commends faith, not to mention the charity. Faith, the principle of charity.
I see in God reason for which Our Lord so commends faith to His Church, that even he first established it of the three theological virtues. I have known that this is the virtue of Faith (this all-divine torch, which enlightens the soul, as I said it before), who has the property admirable to elevate the soul to the knowledge of God, of his attributes, and especially of his goodness infinite, of his great mercy, and of his charity inexhaustible, with which he suffers sinners in their crimes, to which his infinite love always stretches out his arms to receive them in penance.
This same faith makes still see to the soul that this same God, so full of goodness, if the sinner abuses his patience and graces, without sincerely returning to him through the merits of J. C. and by penance, this God all
Mighty will turn his love and his goodness in implacable wrath and in just Corporal.
The The conversion of sinners takes place by faith.
When a soul is lets her touch and open her eyes to these truths so essential to his salvation; When the torch of faith, I repeats it again, makes them known to him and understand; when she says, in view of these truths who hit and touched her: it's done, I give back and I give myself to this almighty God for all that that he will want to make of me; It is here a great act that she produces by virtue of faith. I see that this soul is similar to the poor fishermen who answered Our Lord, when He was on earth
: Yes, Lord, I believe; and that Our Lord, on this word, poured out treasures of grace upon them.
I see in God that it is what Our Lord still does every day with regard to of so many poor souls who are buried in darkness and the shadows of the death of sin. He hits them First, by the clarity of the beautiful truths of the faith, and thereby he prepares them more and more to receive the abundance of his graces; For, after this faith has made them know God, and let them enter into this knowledge by a true desire to be all his, it is then that God pours out on these souls his graces with full hands.
I see in God that this Wealthy soul who still glimpsed only the simple rays of faith, in the moment felt born in it, by the knowledge which she conceived by virtue of faith, a Firm hope in kindness and mercy of God, based on the merits of J. C. It is on these Holy dispositions that the sacred fire of charity of J. C. lights up in
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this soul, and that he resurrects, animates and makes it live in all the practices of the good works, in the charity of J. C., and by the J. C.'s charity, when she is faithful to him.
Belongings Charity in a soul.
I see in God that this beautiful queen of the virtues of God's love, when she entered in a soul, she makes it live in it and through it; she converts everything into love and for love; she is never idle; it is always growing until it has led the soul in the bosom of God himself, which is life undying; and I see in God that a rebellious soul to This queen of virtues, who, by her wickedness, will not not to follow his divine movement, and which compels him to leave her, abandons life to fall into death.
Fate deplorable souls who live and die without charity.
I still see in God, and I repeat, that a soul without the love of God is lifeless, and that the love of God is more the life of our soul, that our soul is the life of our body. Alas! I trembles for me and for all souls who will have misfortune, at the end of their days, to die without love; because I see in God that these poor souls have no life, and died for the eternal and blessed life of this divine charity that makes us live in the bosom of God himself. Ah! poor souls! they will only ever live to suffer eternally. As punishment for never wanting to love God during their lifetime, they will never love this God so lovable, and, by Therefore, deprived of this divine love, they will be dead for all eternity. Alas! alas! I see in God that the greater part of souls have Lost for violating this great commandment so holy and so holy divine love of God!....
While they lived On earth they were Christian only from name, and have let go, so to speak, extinguish in them faith, hope and charity, which are the virtues fundamentals of religion and salvation; They have passed their life in a certain cowardice, lukewarmness and indolence on what concerns the business of their salvation and in oblivion voluntary vows of their baptism. In this way, the faith, in them, was a dead faith that no longer had any vigor: their hope was vain; Divine Love died out and forsaken them, for this divine love cannot dwell in a heart where faith is extinguished.
The Christian who lives without charity soon gives himself up to sensual pleasures and loses faith.
What else I see Sad is that it is done in souls almost without Let them notice: after dragging Several years of their life in limpness, nonchalance and numbness about what concerns the service of God and their Greetings, having activity and vigor only for their passions and their pleasures out of whack, they end up attaching their hearts to all pleasures defended and even criminal.
I see in God that these souls feed and live only on nature, and on the corrupt nature. These poor souls are blinded and as if absorbed by the pleasures of the senses; so that consider them as being closely united to a body of flesh, of spiritual that they were, they all become natural and all carnal, so that they can only find food in pleasures natural and sensual.
Let us talk to them about the Holy religion, or truths of faith, they do not know almost nothing really, because in the Deep in their hearts they only want to believe what is theirs Like; They reject several articles of faith and make pretending to believe in others. And where does this vicissitude come from? in a soul so holy and so divine of its nature? I see in God that it comes from the fact that they no longer have faith, she is extinguished in them, they no longer speak, they no longer act than by nature. What causes their complete blindness, in matter of faith, it is that nature, accustomed to feed itself sensual pleasures, always wants to see or feel, penetrate or to know something in matters of faith: thus They can no longer believe in spiritual things, which do not fall point under their senses. O woe, woe, woe to these souls blind people who have blinded themselves voluntarily!
The loss of faith, the cause of all the ills of the Church.
I see in God that these are those misfortunes that have produced and nourished so many schisms and heresies in the world, from the beginning of the Church to present; who have precipitated so many souls into hell; who have shed so much blood, and who have been the causes of so much war and carnage.
The Sister, in her childhood, hears an instruction from her parish priest on the certainty of faith. His thoughts on this.
At the age of Seven or eight years, my parents took me with them to the Holy Mass. The rector made his advocate on truths of faith and religions, and on
What to do believe and do to be saved. He tells us that he does not We had to rely on our senses which were Misleading; that faith did not fall under the senses; that it was necessary to rest one's faith on the word of Our Lord, and to believe all that that he had said and revealed, and all that the Church invites us to believe. This Good Minister of the Lord brought us an example at once. The sun's rays passed through through windows, and went to the foot of the pulpit. Do you see, he said, these rays of the Sun? Yes. It is good certain that
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The sun shines, since These are his rays before your eyes. Well! What faith tells us Proposition is undoubtedly truer than it is true that we see the sun by the clarity of its rays; Because that our eyes, which see only what falls under the senses, can deceive us, and that faith can never deceive us.
I listened with a great attention, and God gave me the grace to open my mind to the great truths that were announced to me. But the example of the sun's rays astonished me greatly, and gave much to think about in my interior, and I said to myself: It is of course that it is the sun, since it radiates; but I have to attach myself only to what the Church teaches me by its Ministers; I have to believe the way they teach me. I was going back to reasoning within myself with a another way, by saying: Our religion must be well holy, since the faith that makes us observe it, is so spiritual and so divine, that our senses can discover nothing; since The beautiful mysteries of our religion do not fall under our sense, and since I see nothing and discover nothing.
I said to myself again, being outside the Church, and reflecting on what I had heard: My God, have mercy on me, give me your Holy Spirit and intelligence, that I may have the faith, and that I believe all the truths that are true to me Taught; make me believe, not by motive natural, but rather by spiritual thoughts and divine, since this holy virtue is all spiritual and all divine. I still said to myself: If my senses come to trouble me and I will put them aside by a leap of faith; I
I despise them as an animal nature that does not know what it says, and that can deceive.
Careful of the Sister to learn the truths of the faith, and to be well strengthened in this virtue.
From time to time, thinking to my religion that I was taught every day, I informed me if what I was taught was an article of faith, and I am usually answered that yes, and that it was necessary to believe it to be saved.
I had great care, in particular, to learn the three theological virtues, and to Clearly notice what they meant, and the explanation that they gave the priests. But what gave me the most openly, this was the light I received from God, by his divine grace, in the explanation of the articles of the Creed in French. I thought it was admirable, and I said: Lord! How holy is your law! I was taught to believe in God, Father Almighty; and reflecting in I myself said: Yes, my God, I believe in you, and that On your holy word.
The faith sustains the Sister in all her temptations.
My faith was strengthened in as I grew older; by the grace of God, I have always led myself by the lights of faith, and of a naked faith, separated from all sensibilities of nature. Throughout the course of my life, faith has been My treasure and my consolation. In all my bad days, I means in the course of the most violent and most violent temptations. obstinate, whom God wanted me to test, against Faith and against the main mysteries of Our Saint religion, sometimes tired and bothered by the devil who always returned to the charge with his poisonous features, behold, by the grace of God, the weapon which I always had in hand. It was faith; and I said, lifting up my heart right to God: My God! I believe, and I am ready to to suffer whatever you please, and to sacrifice my life for my faith. Because I believe, I was saying to God that my Heart generally believed in all Articles of faith, to those I did not know, too although to those I knew. Thus, in the Even by my temptation, I found, by my faith, a great relief, and strength accompanied by new courage, for Embrace and believe all the truths of faith, even at the risk of my life.
The faith guides in extraordinary things, in which one runs the risk of making mistakes and getting lost.
Faith has been My consolation, not only in my temptations, but also in many extraordinary things that have happened in me, as visions, revelations, and many circumstances which are not common, and which God has willed to afflict me. Thereupon Period, I have known that in these extraordinary things one runs big risk of being wrong, of falling into illusion, and of getting lost in this opportunity. Faith was my guide and consolation. It was in her that I put my strength and all the affection. From my heart, looking at all the extraordinary as with indifference, not to say with aversion, and with a great opposition, which I sometimes feared to go against the will of God and offend Him. All I did then was to cling strongly to the dear columns of our Mother the Holy Church, which are faith, hope, charity and good works.
She prefers the presence of Our Lord through the faith, to his sensitive presence through appearance.
For example, this living faith makes me believe God more truly present in our Holy Mysteries and to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, that if, by An extraordinary grace, he appeared to me and let himself be seen to me, either from the eyes of the body, by a sensitive sight, or from eyes of the soul, by an intellectual view, with an intimate conviction that it was truly Our Lord.
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This is how, by grace of God, I have used it in several circumstances where the Our Lord's presence seemed to me in a way extraordinary. When I was in the presence of Our Lord, before the Blessed Sacrament, always fearing to be Deceived, I resorted to faith, and I said to myself: if this is the right one God, I will not displease him by faith. I prostrated myself and adored Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, by an act of faith, saying: Lord, I firmly believe that you are true God and true Man; that you are at the Most Holy Sacrament of
the altar; and it is there, my Lord, may I see you and behold you with the eyes of faith. When I experienced or heard some revelations, I had great care, by the grace of God, to examine them at once, with the torch of faith; and when I saw something that was opposed to faith, I I rejected, and I renounced it with horror. Without faith there is as long as I would have been lost. This faith has been My light in the time of this darkness that Satan threw so many times into my mind by means of my passions, and the temptations he aroused in me.
One True Christian must be at the disposal of everything Losing and suffering everything for faith in the unhappy times when We are.
I see in God that a True Christian, in every state, must be in the disposition to lose everything, to suffer everything, and even to lay down one's life for the faith. To be perfect Christian, and to be able to keep his faith in the footsteps dangerous of life, and especially in the bad days when we are, and when all Christians will be, In all the misfortunes that happen and will happen between now and The end of the world, we must have recourse to hope and to charity.
ARTICLE IV.
On the perfection to which people are called consecrated to God. How far does it extend the obligation of religious vows. Abuses that have crept in in communities, both men and women. How must behave in the world the nuns that the revolution has been kicked out of their communities.
§. 1st.
Communities nuns fallen of their fervor, and perverted by the lack of vocation and by the spirit of the
world who has crept in. What are the souls in the Church the dearest to Our Lord.
This treaty speaks of the vineyard of the Lord, I mean communities of religious men and women; of the difference that there are good with bad; the review to be made of vocations for religious life, in order to be able to distinguish those of God of those of the devil; Because most of the men and women religious lose themselves in religion by abuse, bad customs, and especially by the spirit of the world.
Complaints of Our Lord on communities perverted by the spirit of the world.
Our Lord said to me, " My vineyard is all desolate, thieves have entered it in the secrecy and silence of the night; they have it entirely Ravaged; they destroyed or took away everything that I had put more expensive and more valuable; It degenerated into Wild and bitter fruits to my heart: the good grape that I was waiting is nothing but verjuice; She became the laughing stock of my enemies, and passers-by trampled it underfoot. I I have thus permitted it, saith the Lord, in my wrath. »
I know in God that these night thieves, who had come in secret, were the accursed spirit of the world, which had insinuated itself skilfully, and under the pretext of piety, in the largest number of religious communities of the one and the other sex.
Spirit of the world introduced into communities by evil Vocations.
Here's what the Lord: "Behold these worldly communities, and as Their minds are filled with the spirit of the world. God made me See even, in their interior, how the spirit of the The world had entered it through evil vocations, I mean by vocations engineered by the devil. When the Demons see a good community, empty of the spirit of the world, filled with the spirit of God, and in which souls are all committed together to fulfilling their duties and to please God, they rage with spite; and Finding an opening point to attack it, they say they are in themselves: we need to bring girls in worldly, by making them believe
that they have a vocation to be religious, and may God call them to such and such community.
Youths People of the world who become religious out of spite.
There are girls who are so worldly, that sometimes, at the end of the ball, where they have felt some disgrace, they will come, by a spirit of murmur and spite, to the community ask the superior, to talk to her
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in secret of their vocation, which is accompanied, they say, by good desires; but Basically, they have only false plans of virtue. They claim that they are called of God; they ask for entry of the community with instance and from the same day.
The Superior admits them, deceived by their disposition good in appearance.
This poor superior is delighted to see such good dispositions; She believes that it is a conquest of grace. When the devil in sees an entrance, it does not stop there, it brings some others from neighboring cities, and even distant cities, and in a short time we will see in the community more than seven to eight postulants, all of whom are led by the spirit of Satan in their vocation.
Here are the thieves who, according to the Lord, will, in the secret of the night, ravage and uprooting your vine. The devil is very careful to foment their vocation, and to make them appear good, both in the eyes of the religious than in their own eyes. He makes them understand that If they return to the world they will be damned by pleasure which they feel for all the maxims of the world. He gives them shows the good examples that the nuns set for the outside, and persuades them that they will do the same; that the rule is not so difficult, and that they will practice well. The devil takes great care to keep them united in a same spirit, and in the same concord and friendship
Natural. Their companions From the world, as well as their parents, do not fail to come to their make long interviews about the pleasures of the world, and tell them all that is most interesting and specific to please them.
The Religious novells, after their admission, form secret liaisons and prepare pleasures.
This is how the demon begins to make a dent in this community, by introducing the spirit of the world through the attendance of the grid. These so-called postulants are already cabaling together, driven by the spirit of Satan; and when they are out of the presence of the mistress, it is then Let them open their hearts, and share with each other of their feelings.
There will be someone who will say: How, my good friend, can we sacrifice so many pleasures and so much entertainment that we tasted at the ball, at the game, with such and such a person? Others will encourage it, by answering: How, my good friend, the nuns of this Didn't the community sacrifice all these Pleasures? Fear not, they add at once, we will be Always for life your good friends: we will compensate you by all that we can of the pleasures you have lost. United Together of heart and mind, we are capable of ourselves make ourselves happy. In addition, we See at the grid all our friends and relatives who we speak and gladden our hearts by talking to us conquests that the world makes. We will make friends, do they still say to each other, of those who will come, and we We will unite with the young nuns who are not unpleasant : they form together diabolical bonds, and promise each other to each other to become religious.
They conceal and deceive their mistress and the Superior during their novitiate.
They learn between They how to answer the mistress when it will give them an account of their vocation, and they will keep each other's plans and conspiracies secret trained together.
This poor mistress asks all these applicants: she asks those that she knows to be worldly, if they still feel of the attraction to the pleasures of the world, and what is the motive for their vocation. Each of these
applicants, who have so well instructed among themselves, answers: My mother, the pleasure I felt for the world is what made me give up to come and become a nun, because I thought that if I stayed in the world, I would be damned and unable to do so. to make my salvation: this is the motive of my vocation; and all, One after the other, have the best motives for vocation. They are given the holy habit, which they take with repugnance, and in the course of their novitiate they cabalent always ordinarily together; they obey only by constraint; They bind as with chains to captivate to observe the rule of the community where they have entered, to abstain from all pleasures which they may subsequently take, either among themselves or at the grid; and they say to each other: We must give guard, my sisters, for if we often go to the gate, our good mothers will persecute us; they will always be after us: it is better to captivate us for some time.
After their profession, they freely engage in The spirit of the world, violate the rules, and evil wins the community.
Here is finally the day when The profession is made: here they are all religious, only of name and dress. Rather, they are not guaranteed to no longer going out, let them give the impetus, as much as it is possible, to all their worldly inclinations, and that they take off towards the grid, where they all await kinds of people of the world. In these visits, we talk about all the illicit pleasures and worldly maxims; We lend to These nuns several novels and books conform to their inclinations.
These evil nuns do not obey
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only when things don't disturb point outside. They evade to obedience in all that they can hide from their mistress and superior. They make parties to stay up at night, to give meals to each other, and to make bombance with sweet dishes and prepared at their taste, which their relatives and friends brought them in secret and against obedience.
I would never finish if I reported everything I see in God about these nuns, of their own excesses, and of those of which they are the cause. Soon the spirit of this accursed world extends over the whole community, and here it is from saint that it was, almost all perverted.
Good Example of some nuns for the confusion of others.
However, it still remains Some nuns who stand firm against the torrent, guard the Good order, and set a good example. God allows it so for Confuse cowards who are unfaithful to him. God made me know a lot about the bad example of this community. I once said that God did not give me point this knowledge in particular, and that it was not a question, for example, of such a community, order, or congregation.
Communities who are to Our Lord, and those who are to the devil.
God made me know that if the devil had his nuns in the communities, Our Lord also had his, and that if the devil had communities almost all of its own, Our Lord also had his; that he knew how to recognize them, and that he would one day sort it himself. But what distressed me very much, it is that the communities, so many men how many women, who are Our Lord's, are smaller number than those of the devil.
The spirit of the world still enters a community through social boarders.
Our Lord made me still see that the spirit of the world enters some communities by the gate, and in others by worldly boarders and little reserved who become familiar with the Religious. By this they make them lose the spirit of their state, so that their religious spirit changes soon in the spirit of the secular world. These nuns had started well, and were truly called by God, but unfortunately they let themselves go to the torrent of the spirit of the world that has entered throughout the community. These poor nuns end badly.
What are the marks of a good vocation.
I have seen in God that if the girls who present themselves to enter the holy religion, want to know if they are really called of God, and if their vocation comes from the Holy Spirit, they must examine in the depths of their hearts what is the motive behind it Dominates.
The first point of a Good vocation is hatred of the world. So see if you hate The world and the maxims of the world as sin. See in the second place if the desire for penance animates you for God's sake and to ensure your salvation. Thirdly if, by these reasons, the desire for penance comes to born in your heart. Ah! to seize it, and give thanks to God for this precious gift, because that it is not given to all; Don't do as the Satan's nuns who are deceived, and who are deceived themselves by the suggestions of the devil who makes them all boiling with the desire to be religious, and the enthusiasm for their vocation, while they seek only to Getting into a community, regardless of whether their vocation comes from God or not, without making reflections serious about their hearts to see if their intention is pure.
Various kinds of bad vocations.
The Devil deceives one large number. Some will have no other motive than the fear of become poor in the world, having only a very small one fortune, and so mediocre, that they see well that she does not will not be sufficient for their maintenance in the way that they would like if they stayed in the world. So grief and spite makes them take this Resolution: I will become a nun in such and such a community, because it is very rich and well in vogue; The nuns are there treat well, they have a lot of freedom of mind and trade with the people of the world. If I talked to my little one Income, surely I would not be so well fed as I I'll be there. They have wine almost every day, always Good cider, coffee and liquor of several species. I can't miss the rest of my life.
There are others than the Devil deceives by another motive. On the occasion of jealousy that they cannot bear, they will throw themselves into a community to be religious. In others, it will be the loss of an inclination that escapes them. Others, finally, will have entered religion by other evil motives. They then acknowledge their mistake; But human respect prevents them to confess it to their parents. They like to exhibit better Their salvation is to leave the community. For example, the demon arouses to girls all kinds of unfortunate accidents, which serve as pretexts for them to become religious.
Evil What do nuns who ask their relatives to enter religion.
It is still a great evil nuns to solicit girls, to warn them, or to engage them to become religious in their community. Sometimes
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It will be an aunt who hires her niece, and sometimes a sister who attracts her sister. They are young ladies who have only human views, and they don't need more to be religious.
Girls who are worn by the devil to become religious, choose always the most disordered community, and filled with the spirit of the world, because this spirit is according to their Inclinations.
Portrait worldly communities. Complaints of Our Lord to this topic.
Our Lord made me to know that there were communities of Satan, which were in abundance and filled with riches; what gave rise to their worldliness. The nuns pushed things so far, that they spent almost all their days in the softness and in the good food with the people of the world, both outside, at the gate, and inside; that he made coffee parties with several desserts the most sensual; finally, that snacks were served with wine and several kinds of liquors; that the people of the world, of one and of the other sex, came there to entertain themselves with the nuns, who did not yielded nothing to them to drink, eat, laugh and rejoice in concert with socialites and socialites.
Our Lord said to me, " Look upon these worldly nuns, how they outrage me, how they bound and tied each other cheerfully Heart with my enemies! What was left in the world ? Their misfortune would not have been so great; because they only came here to make their hell doubly unhappy. »
Our Lord tells me then: "What else would you say about these fat abbots? who, under the title of religious, have their hearts full of spirit of the world? Glorious and puffed up with vanity, esteem of themselves and the dignity of their office, they command like little kings to the religious who are under their obedience. It looks like they're talking to lackeys. He They must walk at the slightest sign of their will or their weird mood. It is the worldly spirit that governs them all in those damned houses. Hardly can you find one or two good Israelites. The worldly companies we see there, and the sumptuous meals that are given in these houses, sometimes have more of apparatus than in those of the people of the world. It is then necessary that this fat abbot, and several religious whom he has for the ordinary in His retinue, go together, to their great satisfaction, to the meals and feasts of the socialites.
How Will I call these so-called religious? How shall I name their homes? A thieves' hut, or rather the castle or the devil gives appointment to his destined citizens for the underworld. He who wants to love the world hates me; one who dwells in this world with affection departs from me, and I takes me away from him. Persons of all states who attach themselves to the world, who indulge in it with joy of heart, turn their backs on me. I say to them in my anger: I break up also with you; I turn my back on you; I have for you only coldness and rigor. If they do not convert, they are as already condemned to the torments of hell, and never to be have part with me. »
Our Lord consoles the Sister by letting her know the souls who are dearest to his heart in his Church.
Then Our Lord addressed myself, and said, "I have Afflicted, I have grieved your heart, in you showing all the desolations of my vineyard; but everything is not yet lost. Come, see and rejoice in me; that I show you the flower of the fields and the lily of the valleys. I want to start by showing you the dearest souls to my heart in the Church; and they are probably All my faithful ministers, who, for my love, spend their life in the arduous and laborious work of their ministry apostolic for the salvation of souls, without neglecting ourselves themselves" in the matter of their own salvation. »
This is what Our Lord said to me, "I will receive them into my kingdom as kings, and They will be the dearest favorites of my heart. In my judgment, I will make them sit on thrones, where they will judge with me the twelve tribes of Israel. I will share with them my Glory and my bliss for 1'eternity. They will be closest to my sovereign throne. He seems that God, for all eternity, will take pleasure to spread from her adorable breast
on them, as being his dearest favorites, the sweetest favors and all the delights from his heart. He will flood them and set them ablaze with such a pure fire and so sweet that all the blessed in their bliss will rejoice and glorify the Lord, saying: Glory, thanksgiving and blessings at the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit! Glory to the august Trinity for all love, for all the glorious rewards you pay back to your ministers. They will cry out in jubilation of thanksgiving: Ah! Lord, you go to excess, and to a eternal excess, which will never end!
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§. II
Communities fervent and regular. To what degree From perfection rises the religious soul by the faithful observance of vows. New formation communities in very small numbers.
Portrait of a holy community. It is the object of the complacency of Our Lord.
Our Lord said to me, " Will you come and see my vineyard, this beloved vine? It is like a beautiful orchard planted with all kinds of good trees, which produce exquisite fruits and in abundance. I am referring to the religious communities of both sexes. They are to me, and I am theirs. They walk in my love and under my protection. The worldly spirit and worldly love have no point of entry. Consider and see, said the Lord; I am going to show you their interior, as It is in good order, and in keeping with the dignity of their state. »
Perfection internal and external to which Stop the good nuns.
Then my mind was enlightened on inner perfection and external of the holy nuns, who stretch with all their heart to the perfection of their condition. I have experienced in God that a good nun, who stretches out with all her heart, for the love of God, to be perfect, God already holds it as perfect, because he sees in his heart this great desire perfection, and that his actions respond to this desire. I saw again the world crucified for her, and She crucified for the world, and died absolutely at all his vanities and all his lusts by the hatred she has for him.
Their External perfection. They never go to the grid than in absolute necessity. Conduct they hold then.
In these communities There is no grid, not even for applicants, to less than for business hurried by their Families. We don't know what it's like to go to the gate to private nuns; But there are cases of absolute necessity to go for the Superior, and for those who take care of the deposits, and who are in charge of the temporal affairs of the house. I was made know how they behaved there. By example, a Superior who is asked at the grid, is there renders with the modesty of a true wife of J. C., the veil low, his eyes downcast, casting no glances of curiosity here and there, weighing his words of in such a way that it does not escape any without necessity. After a humble greeting, she asks to the people who had it called what subject brings them, and What are we talking about? The people of the world make it clear to him that they came to visit her and to see her. Immediately this good nun answers: A good wife of J. C. does not know what it is to receive or return visits. I leave that to the people of the world; we no longer have a part with him; Our death knell is sounded (1). We have given up on ourselves and to all things of the earth; we died in the world, and buried with J. C., and for the love of he. As she left them, she begged them not to bother to return for the same subject, and declare to them that she does not goes to the grid only for the business of his community.
(1) Expression known in the countrysides. To sound the death knell is to warn, by the sound of the bell, that someone has just died, that we may pray for him.
The depositary shall not goes there as well as for the business of his deposit, and she goes there in the same spirit as her Superior.
When they happen to are forced to go to the gate, and that the people of the world are preparing to bring them some news or A few
stories, they do not not afraid to silence them, saying to them: A wife of J. C. does not know how to talk about the affairs of the world, she don't want it point learn news; She died to all this. She only wants to know the life of J. C. Crucified.
The Superior in fear of the spirit of the world, examines and experiences with care the applicants.
They are so scared to introduce a few sparks into their community of the fire of the spirit of the world, that when there are applicants, the Superior questions them and does not rely on their words. She asks them if they have renounced the world, and if they hate it. These ladies answer that they want to give it up, and that is why they ask to enter the community. But the Superior their, said, Ladies, will you experience again; go and do penance; The Wounds of Your Sins are still all bloody. Go ask for opinions, and make account of your vocation to your confessor; and when you hate the world, and that you will have a real disgust with it In your heart, you will return, and we will see what we Will.
Did they enter in the community, the Superior observes gently and prudent desires, inclinations and inclinations that they have in trouble, and especially in the grid and for the grid, and she sometimes lets them go, to see their parents closer; Out of that, grid point. She observes attentively, but without putting any rigor into it, the mine they make, when they are frustrated with the grid. When she sees a sad look, to the point of showing some mood traits and spreading Tears, this good nun sees that in this heart There is still love for the world, since she sees in it Leaning and love for the grid. So she
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said to this Postulant: My daughter, go back to your parents, and purify your Heart of love of the world, until you feel dislike and hatred for him, instead of that love you have still for him.
Then, if the vocation continues to be felt, you can come back, if you Want.
The J. C.'s charity unites all the nuns among themselves.
The charity that the nuns had between them was all holy. They all had one heart and one soul in the union of J. C.'s charity; they all formed one together. same desire and the same desire to please to God. The Superior had sweetness and love benevolent of J. C. who served him to govern all these daughters as a good mother. Finally, all together, they composed an anticipated paradise. It seemed that they began here on earth what they will do eternally in the bliss of paradise.
I finish what looks their exterior; but Our Lord wants me to say here something from their inside.
Their Inner perfection. They make it consist in the fulfilment of the duties of Christians Religious.
Their duties, such as nun, do not prevent them from casting their views on their Duties as Christians, as to be perfect Religious. These two points of perfection serve them as two wings, from which divine love removes them almost without ceases to their homeland, empty of the world and distant from the Hassle of the century and all its pleasures: their souls are filled with the spirit of God; A pure and innocent heart animate, and the presence of God leads them into all things.
Perfection of the four vows of religion.
But let's see how these Chaste wives consider the perfection of their vows in general, and the perfection of each vow in particular. But, alas! who could say it, and still Understand it less? There is only the divine Bridegroom, witness the perfection of their works, and the fruits of divine love, who can talk about it. However, God wants me to say a few words. of each wish in particular. Thus, I will treat in abbreviated of the perfection of the four vows of religion.
Perfection of the vow of obedience. They obey in God and for God.
Vow of obedience. - These chaste wives, by tender and affectionate love, consecrate themselves to the divine spouse, and consider, by the vow of obedience, what he asks of them, and what he must do to be more pleasing to one's divine heart. Then they obey God through the movement of love and their will; they obey to God here on earth, much like The angels obey him in heaven. They obey for God to divine inspirations, to the movements of grace, to their confessors, to the major superiors, and to their superior. They obey all as well as God himself, looking at them only in God, and God in them.
Perfection of the vow of poverty. They take that of J. C. for model.
Vow of poverty. - They examine if they have not any love natural or self-seeking. What would I say? They are poor of all the goods of the earth, deprived even of the the most innocent pleasures. Unattached to anything, and separated of all that is not God, they take as an example the saint poverty of their divine spouse, whom they contemplate as their model.
Since its incarnation they follow this divine lamb of God wherever he goes, I means in all the mysteries of his life, death and his passion, in all the hard work he suffered to proclaim his Gospel, and in all the torments he has endured by ending his precious life on the tree of the cross. These holy wives do with him, Several times a day, their appointment: they contemplate it in all its mysteries; They see that the beginning of his life responds to his death, and that he expires into the arms of the Holy poverty, as he received it at his birth in a nursery between two animals. This is it let these holy wives get drunk and inflamed by desires of his holy poverty, of his holy abjection, of his inconveniences, of his work, of all his contempt and all its opprobrium.
Until what an excess of abjection, suffering and opprobrium, J. C. was reduced out of love for poverty.
I would never have finished If we had to say all of the following and all that accompanies the holy poverty of J. C., and all that must be done by those and those who want to imitate him and walk in his footsteps. But let's listen What it says
J. C. himself in speaking of the goods of the land, the comforts, the commodities and the pleasures of life, which are the first objects we get detached by the
Holy Poverty. « Foxes have their dens, and birds their nests for receive their little ones, says our Lord, and the Son of man has not not where to rest his head. Our Lord says again from the mouth of his prophets:
"I am a worm of land and not a man; I became the opprobrium of mortals and the mob scrap. »
These are precious Companions of Holy Poverty and Holy Abjection. O holy poverty of J. C, whom you have of power and charms ! You have enchanted the king of kings, you have intoxicated him with desire and love to possess you. It is at the death that he made appear more love for you: you have it reduced to the last of the opprobriums, by leading him naked, like an earthworm, on the tree of
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the cross , as he said. Holy poverty of J. C., in what way Have you satisfied him for so much love he has brought you during the course of his most holy life, to the point that he always wanted Have her as a companion? So that's the reward you Give him to death! It is J. C. who says it himself: "I'm full of opprobrium."
Such is the excess of love which J. C. bore to holy poverty, and to The holy abjection who is like his eldest daughter. What! Lord, was your love for holy poverty So like a hunger and thirst that dried you out? she Satiated you, but satiated you with what? alas! Lord, of opprobrium. Was that, then, the purpose of your Desires? well, Lord, alas! alas! You're full of it! And that's why you Say that everything is consumed, as if you meant that All your desires are fulfilled.
Live Exhortation to embrace detachment from everything and abjections of
J. C.
Come, O holy women wives of J. C., come and contemplate your husband and your model! Come and receive, at the time of his death, his last words, and the desires of his holy will! Desires who press it are that you imitate it, by walking, closer that it will be possible for you, in the footsteps he has marked you, to go with him to the mountain of Calvary. But
Rise with Him on the cross, never to touch the earth; because there you have it. what he desires. He wants to draw you to Him by the general detachment from all that is created; You, especially those who have taken the vow of Holy Poverty and holy abjection. When he says from his adorable mouth: " When the Son of Man shall be lifted up between heaven and the earth, he will draw everything to himself. » To whom these Do they speak if not to all souls? who want to imitate him and walk in his footsteps, and mainly to persons who are specifically dedicated to His service? Come, therefore, elite souls; It is you who
J. C. waits, and let him wants, from the top of his cross, to draw to him.
Alive the desires of J. C.'s wives to suffer for him and to unite with him on the cross.
This is where his Holy Brides Were Absorbed in Contemplation of the death and passion of their husband that they get drunk the desire for his love that inflames them, and that they burn the desire to unite with him, not only in time, but still in eternity. This holy intoxication their makes us forget everything that is created and detach them of everything on earth. They see their husband who has suffered for their love throughout the course of his life, and which has never ended his sufferings only on the cross. Following his example, they are inflamed with his love, and burn with the desire to suffer like him.
They cry out in Themselves: To love and suffer, and to suffer for my husband, These are all my desires and all my delights. Their Heart is attached to the cross, and their souls is united with J. C. They then say: I rested in the shadow of the one I loved. What does it mean to to rest, according to the idea of this holy bride, at The shadow of the one she loved? This means that she feels that it holds, and that it is attached and as crucified with J. C., and for her love, on the tree of the cross, and that it is there that she wants to make her home the rest of his days. This is what makes him say: I will rest at the shadow of the one I loved. What does it mean to rest? The holy wife hears it well, she wants to say: When I will be pursued by my enemy, and that I will be tired of the fight, I will flee to my heavenly husband, and there I will rest in the shadow of the one I loved.
This holy wife inquires about her husband where he leads to graze his flocks, where he makes them rest at noon, and where He rests himself. Second, it acknowledges that the Noon of his most ardent love is on the cross, that it is there the noon of the sun of righteousness, and that dying for us, it is from there let him cast upon souls the most ardent rays of his Divine love. It is then that in her transports, this holy wife cries out: Let the contemplatives seek as much as they want their consolations and pleasures: they
find on the Thabor; Let them say with the apostle: It is good here, let us stay there. For I, said this holy bride, "my side is taken, and my choice is done: I want to establish my stay on Calvary, and I will rest in the shade of him whom I have loved. But seeing that her husband died of love for her, that Love submitted its master to death, and that it is for she that he dies of love, Alas!" said she, "if my husband dies of love for me, I can no longer live. In its transport of love for our Lord, this love seems to give him the backlash, and deliver it to death. She can say with truth: I no longer live in the world, nor in its Lusts; I died at all this, and died at myself: no, I no longer live, it is J. C. who lives in me, and I act no more by any movement of life but for him: since J. C. died for my love, I want to die from the love of his love.
Perfection of the vow of chastity. They are like angels by their purity.
Vow of Chastity.—But what shall I say of these pure virgins and spotless? I would say that they are beautiful lilies, and the lilies of the valleys by their whiteness and purity; it is not even necessary to touch them with your fingertip, or run your breath over them, because that they would be spoiled.
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These virgins bear for ornament the fleurs-de-lis of their King Jesus, who is their husband and lover of virgins. They imitate, these virgins pure, on the earth, what angels do in heaven; But what do I say, angels are jealous of them, seeing that virgins imitate them so closely in a mortal body and in the midst of so many dangers, and that they are, by virtue and love for their spouses, as pure that they are by nature. It is on this subject that the angels in astonishment and admiration, cried out: O miracle Please! O miracle of love! glory to the Most High in every century of centuries!
Perfection of the closing vow. Solitude of the heart, and intimate communications with J. C.
Closing Wish. — Here is what the Lord says of the nuns who tend to perfection: "I will lead my beloved into a deep solitude, far from the world and noise. » Our Lord, speaking thus, means the solitude of the heart. When he says: away from the world and the noise, do not believe Not that the divine husband makes his wife a slave to a multitude of vague and useless thoughts, not to say bad, and let him allow his imagination to carry her there. and there without her being the mistress. This is suitable for a bad nun or an unfaithful wife; this is why the Holy Bridegroom says: "I keep him away from the world and the noise; And there I will talk to his heart. »
O what loneliness! oh What silence of heart and mind! or rather what sweet Interviews of the Holy Bridegroom with his wife who lives in the closed garden, and of which the husband alone has the key! No one enters but his wife and him. He enters when he pleases him, and at some hour of the day and night that he wants.
Manner whose faults Our Lord takes up and corrects his wife. His penance.
He sometimes enters to see if his wife is not idle or asleep, or if the The fruits of his actions have reached maturity, if he there are none of them pitted or crooked; if it does not finds not, in all his actions, something that hurts the Heart of the Holy Bridegroom. Then he examines whether all his actions are conducted with perfection; He shows her his faults with kindness and by humiliating him deeply; he makes her known that the love he has for her does not allow him to see these spots in his heart. That is why I say that the holy spouse goes away and comes back when he pleases: for then he withdraws to mortify his wife and to serve his purification; He leaves her in the sighs and tears of a bitter contrition for offending her husband. She thinks he is angry with her, and she seeks only the opportunities to reconcile with him and please him. For This she redoubles all her fervor in a spirit of penance. and love.
When she sees The holy bridegroom returning to his garden, she addresses him these Lyrics: Come, my beloved, to your garden! What for She said, in your garden? This garden is its heart which she has given to the Lord with all her fruits, all her works and all its productions; That's why she calls it the garden of the bridegroom, which is closed by him inside and outside, so that no one enters but the bridegroom. Come, she said, once again, come and visit all my actions; Come and see, O my beloved, the faults I would have committed by my little love and my little
vigilance. So the Saint Bridegroom embraced her arms, and gave her the saint. kiss of reconciliation, saying to her: My wife, my Beloved, your heart is like a garden filled with roses, lilies and all kinds of flowers, all of which rejoice my heart by the good smell they Spread.
Favour signaled that Our Lord makes to his bride. It purifies his heart and gives it a touch of love.
Our Lord gives him a Great favor to reward from this life love and the penance of his contrite and humiliated heart. Previously he made her see the mistakes she had committed and that she was prone to commit, though these faults were very light, and were not even, to put it better, only imperfections. But as there is only God who can know and probe our hearts perfectly, this Divine husband saw in the heart of his wife like the fibers of something close to nature, that we could compare to a hair, and which displeased the husband, because it was this hair that caused Some slight mistakes on some occasions. At the same time At the time, our adorable Saviour saw in this heart so much love, So much humility, such a great desire to please her husband, and such ardour to do penance, and to purify herself, that she constantly asked for this grace from her husband. This divine bridegroom found himself charmed by all the good desires of his wife. He knew well that she did not know but that hair that was in her heart, came from the excess of love that this divine bridegroom had for his wife and it was this very excess of love that obliged him to communicate to him a very great grace in pulling out his hair himself and giving him back his heart pure and spotless in his eyes. This divine Savior made this beautiful operation in her heart, without her having any knowledge.
Effect mysterious of this great favor.
This grace was too great for it not to have its effect. In this The wife immediately felt this A touch of love that Our Lord had put to purify his heart. At the same moment she cried out,
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in deep humility "O my husband! My heart is hurt by your love; From now on, I am all yours. Our Lord replied: "Give yourselves all to me, my wife, and I will be all yours forever.
»
This holy wife found herself in the moment as if lost in herself, without to know what she had become, and seeing herself as transformed into God alone. This is what brought her to cry out with joy and gladness: God alone! God alone! I used to say: God and me! but now that I see only God alone, and that I have lost myself in I myself can no longer say anything else: God alone in all my actions: God alone in my life: God alone my death, and God alone in eternity. There you go the reward that God gives to his bride from This life, and this is the effect of his operation in his wife's heart. When Our Lord lives to correspond to his grace with such great fidelity, This divine bridegroom kissed her again in the kiss of his holy love, and said to him; "You are beautiful, my Beloved, and you will be eternally the beloved from my heart. »
Our Lord tells him again: "O beautiful daughter of Zion, that your deeds are to me Pleasant! daughter of the prince, may your steps me Like! It will be up to you, my wife, to whom I I will say soon, when I withdraw you from this place of exile, for place you with me in my kingdom: Come, my dove! Come, my beloved! Come, sister! Come, my wife! Winter has passed, the rains have stopped in our Cantons, there are no more fogs or frosts. Spring began, the turtle dove was heard. Come, the Beloved of my heart, enjoy the beautiful day of Eternity, where the sun of righteousness shines always and never has a sunset! »
Our Lord made me To know that a good community where all the nuns filled with the zeal of their salvation and the glory of God, animate one another to keep their vows and their rules, and to sanctify themselves all together, he is as enjoyable as a melodious concert of music, who, animated by his love, unites himself with the songs of the angels, with the honor and glory that is rendered to him in heaven.
News communities, in small numbers, which Our Lord promises to his Church.
Our Lord said to me, " My desolate vineyard destroyed itself; but when I showed it to you all defeat and without fastened, all broken and trampled underfoot, did you see that I would give birth young people
vines, which would be tied and planted at the foot of the walls, and that I Would it give the winegrowers a commission to take great care of it? I tell them I will give my spirit, which will bear fruit in them. But as the communities that will be raised will be in very A small number, as I showed you, the winegrowers will only cultivate vines here and there, and far apart. Most will last until the reign of the Antichrist. Those that the Antichrist will find under his power, will suffer immediately martyrdom, and all the communities of each other Sex will all be crushed and finished. »
§. III.
On nuns who lead a lukewarm and imperfect life. Causes and punishment of their lukewarmness.
Our Lord makes the Sister aware of lukewarm life imperfect nuns.
Our Lord said to me, " I have made you see nuns quite evil, and Then I made you know the nuns who tended without ceases to perfection, among whom there are some who, with the Help of my grace, become perfect. But here are some others that are not as bad as the ones I have you shown, not as good as those that are my true Wives. Work to their perfection. They are imperfect nuns who have degenerated of the primitive spirit of their fathers, and who have fallen little by little in a conduct that made them lose the spirit of their condition. There are communities where the most A large part of the nuns fall, about the affair of their Salvation, in discouragement, lukewarmness, cowardice, finally in all the negligence that accompany a lukewarm and soft life in religion. »
Causes of this lukewarmness. Attachments of the heart, jealousy, esteem of self.
I dared to ask Our Lord: Why, Lord, these poor nuns Have they fallen into such a pitiful state? He replied: "It is not by my grace that he must be imputed. I gave them grace upon grace, especially in the time of retreats and missions, where I opened their eyes in particular. the soul. I showed them their
defects, and especially These little idols they carry in the depths of their hearts. I let them know that this was where Came all their faults and the bad state of their souls. My grace touched them, hurt their inclinations, and made an effort to penetrate their hearts. But all this was useless, they liked to obey better. to their idols to obey my grace. »
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This is what the Lord made me known in relation to these idols. In the One, it will be a friendship and an attachment for some religious of the community, or for any person of the world, with which one does not want to break at all; In the Others, it will be a secret jealousy or envy against one of their sisters who has been placed above them, and that they see more honored and more estimated that they. This other will have a small esteem and a certain love of herself, because she sees herself in the offices, and that she is honored as having spirit, and as being able enough to fill his place.
Example of a novice who makes profession with a certain attachment of heart for the world. His imperfect life, and vice of his confessions.
Oh! What shall I say? There are A hundred kinds of things in which the devil can deceive. For example, a novice with little knowledge of the state she wants To kiss, to make profession with that accursed spirit of the world, which is not Not yet suffocated or dead in his heart. There you go evil; And this is what the nuns must do well. Be careful, especially the mistresses, who must know thoroughly their novices, and teach them well. How Can they expect to have a good topic in a person Who still has the spirit of the world in their heart? Because friendship and the attachment that this young professed still has for the world prove much that she still has the mind.
But, you will tell me, this good novice has great piety; It is approaching The sacraments she made a good general confession. It is believed that she confessed with all her sins, and especially of everything that concerns the world. Yes, probably; But did she confess this idol of pleasure and friendship for the world that all this still leaves subsist in
His heart? She has confessed! And this is what puts her in a false peace! She will have declared how many times it has been at the ball or night vigil appointments; she will even have told everything that happened to him to This opportunity, and she thinks she is out of it. A confessor who sees her accusing herself so accurately, will not have believed that she still retained in his heart pleasure and attachment for the manners of the world.
She makes a profession, and, after his profession, instead of trying to stifle This idol, she takes her pleasure and satisfaction at the grid. Then, in confessions, she accuses herself of having lost too much time at the grid, for talking too much about it long with the people of the world, and things of the world; but she is careful to accuse himself of attachment to the pleasures of world she still carries in her heart, satisfaction that she finds to think about it and to talk about it, and to to make known that it is from this pleasure that his love comes for the grid and for interviews with the people of the world.
I don't say anything about what I see in God about the confessions and communions of these Religious. I dare not say what I see in God, and God will dispense with doing so. But they are like all the others people who have, like them, hidden their little idol, and concealed in their confessions against the reproaches of their conscience, and against the fidelity that we owe to grace.
Retribution lukewarmness. Blindness of the mind and hardening of the heart.
God is customary, for the ordinary, to punish these people according to the greatness and quality of their sins. They fall into a certain blindness of mind, especially on the inside of their consciousness, with regard to what they owe to God. The Light of Faith darkens, their hearts become almost as hard as stone. They abandon themselves to nonchalance and lukewarmness, so that they do not observe their vows and rules than by routine. The same applies to confession and communion. Finally, of all their obligations they do not practice than the exterior, that is, the bark; but for the marrow of their vows and rules, They know absolutely nothing about it, for the reason that they have not never studied their obligations on the merits and the interior.
One can only emerge from such a deplorable state by a Extraordinary grace that no one should promise.
They would pass the rest of their lives in this unfortunate state, if God, by his sheer goodness, did not give them extraordinary graces and strong that lift them up and get them out of their blindness. But those who are in such a deplorable state must not rely on these extraordinary graces, because that God does not give them to anyone; and whether it grants Sometimes it does so only in respect of those or the ones he likes.
§. IV.
On greed and harshness towards the poor, more condemnable even more in men and women religious than in the people of the world. Persecution of a religious faithful to his vows, in a community that rapes them. How God wants communities to be reformed.
Anger of God against the miserly.
This is what God obliges me to have people write. I saw the Lord, in his wrath and in his justice, pronounce with his sacred mouth and fulminate Judgments of condemnation against the misers who sacrifice everything to amass earth, treasures and wealth,
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without thinking about those from heaven, and whose hungry heart is like that of the starving who cannot satiate. Their bags and Are chests full of gold and silver, are their lands considerably enlarged, they are still starving More than ever. Lust, diabolical passion, warms up Continually their hearts: the more they possess, the more they want to own. I see in God that these unfortunates are as tight as the poor who are avaricious for get rich.
Miseries and the suffering of the poor.
While the miser holds hidden in the bosom of the earth its immense treasures that rust spoils and gnaws, God sees on the other side The widow and the orphan moan and lament about deprivation of the necessities of life. He sees them languishing and suffering so strong, that they drag a dying life that after several months, or if you want several years of scarcity, imperceptibly leads them to death.
Their premature death caused by the hardness of rich, attracts divine vengeance.
I See in God that these Poor people die suddenly, and as if of sudden death, by the hunger and misery, which rarely appears to the eyes of the world. But God who penetrates everything, who suffers all, Sees that the second causes, necessary for life have failed to sustain so many poor, and even that of so many poor innocents who are still in the cradle, and who feel the need of drinking and eating than that of conceiving that they are born. He sees a grieving mother mingling her tears to those of his child. O tears of the child and the mother ! you ascend, you ascend to the throne of God to make it descend the thunderbolts and thunders that God will throw on the head of the avaricious, and on hard hearts towards the poor that they can assist.
I still see in God that These innocent little ones, and many poor little ones, suffer from an early age by the deprivation of food needed to life, and that this deprivation, after so much suffering, leads them for the most part to an imminent death. Sometimes, when they happen to have what they need, as the natural ducts are narrowed, and the stomach has weakened, it happens that, as the effect of the food is to produce within and outside the faculty and natural power to grow and gain strength, when they reach the age of a strong and robust man they perish.
This God of goodness who limited our days and years, and who fixed The hour of our death, is willing to allow the second causes of which I have just talked about acting on the poor; and to ensure that the natural powers having always suffered, cannot regain the upper hand; so that the slightest fever, or a mild illness, makes them decline from day to day, and cuts them the thread of life in the prime of their life. This happens without it appearing to the eyes of the world that famine is the cause of their death. It will be said: It is a fever,
It is a disease that has makes this poor man die. But, alas! than God's judgments are different from those of men! I see in God that He judge and condemn them, if they do not convert, as murderers and executioners of the poor who are its members. But His wrath will fall particularly on the avaricious and on the wealthy people who had the power to assist them, and who have not fulfilled the duty of charity whom God recommends so much to the poor.
But, alas! alas ! I see in God that if, in the rigour of his righteousness, he treats so severely the people of the world for their avarice, Will it treat less severely the Avaricious religious in the cloister? Here's what I see in God, and that which seizes my heart with sadness and horror, it is that avarice reigns in all its fury; and whether this Cursed Passion seizes several religious; particularly of those who have temporal goods in their hands, as well as of those who are Charged with the spiritual, it is then that under the veil of the Holy poverty they amass, by means of the great incomes of their profits and annuities, heaps of gold and money. What shall I say? In all sorts of ways the vow of holy poverty is violated; thefts, Rapines are increasing every day.
Their harshness for the poor.
If the poor come groaning at their doors, alas! their cries are unwelcome and expensive. If the prosecutor gives them by chance something small, it will be to dismiss them and Urge them not to come back another time annoy them more, adding that it is the Superior who owns the property of the community; that, for him, it is not than the bursar; that they are not his, that they belong to the community, and that he has made a vow poverty.
God threatens them with his revenge.
This is the language that this avaricieux rings in the ears of the poor of J. C. O cursed language! that you offend God! and that you attract misfortunes! O hypocrite, says Our Lord, you cover yourself with the mask of virtue by the vow of holy poverty! You are nothing less that a thief, a murderer and a murderer of my poor; murder even souls who are under your guidance. You fattening you, unfortunate, with the goods and pleasures of the earth that
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are Your prerogative and your God in this world, waiting for the day of your judgment, in which I will throw the wrath of my anger on You and your accomplices for all eternity.
I also see in God that a community thus spoiled and corrupted by the violation of the Holy Commandments and all vows, and although an entire community that gave itself up to the devil by this lust of avarice, and to all The passions of which she is blinded, become so execrable in the sight of the Lord, that they must have recourse to his kindness, may they beseech him to use patience so as not to throw the fire of heaven on them, and precipitate them to the bottom of the Abysses of hell before time.
In Bad communities, there are some good religious who resist scandal.
In these communities abominable there are always religious more criminal and more guilty in the eyes of God as each other. For example, there are will have in these bad communities a league of some religious associates in their diabolical passions, and who will be of the same way of thinking and the same how to act; they will seek to unite with them all the religious of the community, and by the artifice of the demon they will succeed only too much. But God allows that there are always a few who turn their backs on them, and who do not want to follow their reprobate sense.
What happens from there? I see in God that a good religious will sustain himself alone in the midst of the corruption of others. An arrogant and puffy superior of Lucifer's pride will command him, against God's law or against his vows, to do or not to do such and such things; this religious saint, filled with the spirit of God and his condition, resists such orders with all its might, without fear all the disgraces that threaten him.
Persecution that a faithful religious feels. Abuse of obedience blind.
This good religious is no longer regarded only as an apostate from the vow of obedience; For it is necessary, as they say in these bad communities,
obey blindly, without considering whether there is sin or not. I can say here something of what I have seen in God about this alleged blind obedience. In the wrong communities where I have spoken, the religious, to better band together, assert and exercise much obedience, which they call blind obedience to their superiors. It is in this alone they make consist of all their so-called holiness; and therefore they imprint in the minds of their disciples and of their| novices this hypocritical virtue that counterfeits the true and Holy Obedience of J. C. on the Cross. But I see in God that this pernicious stratagem will be discovered on the day of judgment, and that then it will be known that this false obedience blind man only served as a plan to disobey God and to our mother the Holy Church.
Youths Novices of a narrow-minded mind who allows himself to be seduced by a false application of what is only suitable for true virtue.
In the young men who present to enter into religion, there are some Narrow-minded little minds who get caught up in satisfaction with this blind obedience, because one said to them, Never obedient was damned; If you want to be holy, be obedient to your blind superiors, because they know everything that needs to be done to be holy and perfect.
I see in God that he finds subjects so narrow-minded, that they attach themselves only to follow the example of their superior, to applaud him in all his actions, and obey him the blind man. The devil adds a certain illusion that calms and flatters their conscience, by making them hear, this evil spirit! that the most essential of their obligations is to obey in all blind. Finally, they let themselves go to the torrent and to the common train of this bad community; they obey in time and out of time, day and night, for go to games, dance, feasts and assemblies worldly entertainment, both at home and around the world: at last they obey blindly against the law of God and the saints commandments, against their vows and constitutions; what does not prevent them from doing their exercises sometimes religious to save appearances.
Suite of this evil: the loss of faith and the forgetting of the most important duties Essential.
I see in God that especially These young religious of whom I have just spoken, lose so badly the spirit of the faith of the Catholic religion, and forget so much God and the Holy Church, let them set aside all their most important obligations, and let them imagine that, provided they obey, without
examine whether there is harm or No, they will become saints, and let them be given this little religion all for them, that they may go to heaven. There you go Very crude illusions.
But, you will tell me, there is no Does he not have major superiors to correct such great ones? abuse? Alas! alas! I see in God that these superiors Majors were elected by the superiors of these evil communities, not by the spirit of God, but by the human spirit, so that they may serve to promote their Unregulated passions.
Conduct major superiors in their visits.
Also I see in God How these Major Superiors make their visits, and how They are reforming the abuses of these bad communities. At Their arrival is nothing but applause and jubilation from The provincial share and his deputies, to the
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superior and all the religious of the community, whose superior does not failure to sound praise and submission to all his orders. It extends in particular to the praise of these young religious, whom he raised and bent under the yoke of obedience, and it gives hope that they will one day be big topics.
But here's the side opposite: If there is a subject or two observing the rule and who refuse to obey the superior in all that they know to be against God and the rule, It is against these that the superior and the other religious in the community. What atrocious calumnies! They are stubborn or rebellious spirits, who violate with impunity their vows, and who have devotions to .part. I would never have finished, if I said all that the devil invents to fill the ears and heads of superiors Adults who listen to all these reports with indignation against these poor and good subjects. All their concern is to know what penance or punishments will be quite proportionate to the crimes of these unfortunate people; and when it There would be only one good religious, as I said above, he would be punished as if there were several.
The Faithful religious condemned and punished.
I see in God that these Major superiors order that this religious be brought in front of them. What is painful the representation I see in God of this sad victim!... But, alas! what am I saying!. O happy victim! Oh
Fortunate victim! you represent me in this fight J. C. presented before Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod. I see this victim prostrate on her knees, face down, as if she were responsible for all the crimes of the community, and that it judged himself guilty before God. She asks forgiveness from God, to his superiors, and to all the community, of all faults and all sorrows that she made to them; She receives with patience and submission insults and slanders that come out of the inflamed mouth anger from his superiors. This innocent victim, to the example of Our Lord answers nothing and keeps a deep Silence: She feels that all her apologies would not serve as a nothing, neither for the glory of God, nor for the salvation of their souls, nor for its own justification. That is why she is silent, and is subjects in advance to all punishments and to the various penances that will be imposed on him. We deliberate, Before leaving the chapter, on the penance that is needed impose on this rebel, this apostate. All superiors are of the same opinion, and say that it is necessary to question him, and ask him if he wants to be subjected to blind obedience, that is, to all that His superior will demand of him. If this rebel wants to become a Perfect obedient, his penance will be light and transient; but if he wants to persevere in his Rebellion, his penance must be so long than his life. We then question this good religious, who is also firm that anvil: the more it is hit, the harder and firmer it becomes to receive the blows, without returning any. We ask for this religious, we take him by the rigor, we show him the penances severe which will be inflicted on him, if he does not want to change their feelings. We mix with sour words a few words of gentleness and clemency; he is made to hear that leniency will be used towards him. This voucher religious, firm as a rock, protests that he will obey only J. C, that to the Church, to its rule and to Best wishes.
Then it rises A unanimous cry of fury from superiors and religious against this victim, seeing himself defeated by the answers of this hero of the Lord; and feeling consciousness themselves blame them for their crimes, they tell the superiors Must take this infamous object out of front of our eyes and unworthy to appear among us in the community. Then Those ruthless superiors who are like kings, kings, lords and judges of those who are under their authority, pronounce against this innocent
The judgment that condemns to be castigated a number of times by the community, to a perpetual prison, sometimes to be thrown into a low pit or in a dark dungeon, and to be reduced to to have, for all food, only a large black bread of which their Dogs would not want to eat, and water for his drink. That Saint Penitent would still be happy if he had any. enough.
The superiors of the community triumph and fill with blessings their Major Superiors, telling them that they are worthy of govern, that they know well how to correct vice and support virtue, and that they have delivered them of an awful burden that was unbearable to them. I see in God that this good servant is happier to be withdrawn alone with God and condemned to die, than to pass the Rest of his days among these ravishing wolves.
God manifests to the Sister her will on reform communities.
Here's what I saw in God, and whom God absolutely obliges me to put in writing. It is God's will that all religious and all nuns must not be under the government or under the jurisdiction of provincials, definitors and superiors major of the religious of their order, to
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Reason for disadvantages who have arrived, and who can happen again. The will of God is that they be under government, jurisdiction and discipline of the bishop of the diocese where their Monasteries are located. Several years ago that the Lord had made this known to me: I had not dared to have it written down but now it was necessary to yield to the will of God and him obey.
§. V.
The Vow of poverty does not exempt a religious or a religious to assist the poor. In some cases they
are Forced. Some practical rules to observe this wish with perfection.
The Sister hesitates to assist a poor woman, because of of his vow of poverty. Lesson given to him by Our Lord about it.
Here's what happened to me recently. A poor woman, affected by several large Cross, with which she was as if burdened, made me the story, which brought tears out of my eyes, and pierced my eye. heart of pain. With all these crosses, she was still in the scarcity of bread, and lacked clothes for her and for her children. I could not assist him according to desire from my heart, because I didn't have permission from my Superior. A few hours later, finding myself alone, I was thinking inside what I could give for the relief of this poor woman. I was thinking to myself: I have two or three pieces of canvas that I would like give him well; but my Superior will not allow me. As I rolled these thoughts in my mind, a voice that I heard over my head, as if coming from Our Lord said to me: "If she does not want it, tell her that the Lord needs it to cover His naked members. »
Surprised and astonished With these touching words, I began to lift the head and to look to the place from which That voice was gone. I hadn't paid attention that there was had above my head a painting from which I was Came this word. He represented Our nailed Lord on the cross, and the executioners working to raise the cross standing up to put it in the hole they had made, and to subjugate it. I began to think and to fix my eyes on the representation of Our Savior Crucified; behold, in the moment Our Lord spoke to me a second time. I saw and heard that this voice came positively. the painting of Jesus crucified; and here are the lyrics he addressed to me as I looked at him: "I have suffered, said this amiable Saviour, that I was nailed naked to the tree. of the cross. Those who, for my sake, will cover and clothe The naked limbs of my poor, will give me more pleasure than if at the day of my passion they would have made me, the charity to cover my nakedness on the cross. »
One religious who has taken a vow of poverty, must, with permission, share, in some cases, what she has with the poor.
Here's what this divine Word made me known in my interior, on what looks at me, with regard to practice and Perfection of the vow of the
Holy Poverty. First, God let me know that I had several pieces. of linen and herds, and that he wanted that with the permission of my Superior I share them, and let me share them with the poor; that I had to, and that I should not to say: I am poor and charity. Because there are occasions when the poor give each other charity. Compare, Our Lord told me, your poverty and your necessity with those of this poor woman. That put me in great confusion in myself, and even I was agitated with fear for my salvation about My vow of holy poverty. Alas! me I said, I must be absolutely poor, I have made a vow of it, And yet I lack nothing. Charity takes so much care of myself in my sicknesses and infirmities, which I is not lacking more than in any other time. It caused me like a concern of conscience.
Our Lord made me to hear that he was not asking that his real wives, to Observe the vow of holy poverty, even if reduced to begging like the poor who ask for their bread from door to door; that he didn't even allow that Arrived; and that, when that happened, they would not be. more perfect in his eyes. But one thing that displeases to God, it is to see in his wives a certain greed that always makes them fear need and indigence for the time to come, and a certain lust which leads them to complain unnecessarily; from so that there are some who are always ready to receive, even out of charity, and never to give.
Circumstances extraordinary in which a nun is obliged to assist the poor.
God made me hear that, following the vow of poverty, and the charity it order in occasions of present necessity and pressing, the nuns were obliged to do almsgiving, big or small, like other Christians; as, for example, in extraordinary times of famine or famine. I see in God that to save the life of a no one, a nun must share with her piece of bread, when she would have only that: she would have to share, so on Say, bite by mouthful, to save the life of brother; This rarely happens.
The soul religious must have a heart free of all greed, and rely on the attentive care of Providence.
"Hunt from your hearts, says Our Lord to his wives, all greed and all
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lusts, immediately that you will notice. You are poor volunteers, you left everything to follow me; Surrender without reserve to my divine providence. How have I told you? Missed to complain about me? the mother would forget rather his child in the cradle, that I will not forget you. »
Practice poverty in food, clothing and bedtime.
I have seen in Our Lord, than to practice his vow of poverty and live in it in Perfection, it is necessary that the religious, all the days of his life, have the practice of voluntarily abstaining from something of his ordinary food. It's not just God want us to expose ourselves to making ourselves sick, but to remain a little on his appetite, and let us abstain, if only a bite of bread, or something on the table. It is unworthy before God that a person who makes a profession of poverty, indulges in the intemperance of the drinking and eating; that is, to satiate and be content according to what the fullness of nature demands and his appetites, as worldly people do. These people fish much more
than them; and if it is usual at every meal and every day, they violate their vow of poverty, and do not practice it. Not at all. On this point a nun has yet to have in mind to wear every day some mark of holy poverty and of the holy abjection in his garments, and even in his bed, in order to have something that represents the saint poverty, and which reminds him of it. It must do the visit, or have it done by his Superior, to ensure if she is not dressed in a way that shocks holy poverty, and to examine again whether there is no something more than just necessary, in order to to be able to do a small share for the poor.
Exhortation to the practical perfection of poverty. How consists of this perfection.
Here's what the Lord: "You are poor and poor Volunteers; but it is not enough, to practice this vow, and to be in the way of perfection, to be poor than in the will: it is still necessary that the will Act. It is therefore necessary that this will make the hand to The work and practice of the actions of Holy Poverty. The other poor are really poor, and poor by one absolute necessity, and often against their will; But for you, who are poor volunteers, you will not be Never good poor, nor perfect in my eyes, if your Will acts for my love almost on every occasion. If This will does not act, although it is full of good desires that can easily deceive us, the practices of Holy poverty falls immediately. »
Here is the prerogative, or rather the standard of J. C. crucified and his holy poverty. It consists of carrying every day of one's life the cross of Penance of Holy Poverty and Mortification Inner and outer senses in a saint abjection, contempt and annihilation of oneself, at the sight of J. C. crucified. This is the standard after which we must walk; This is the path of true perfection of all virtues.
How A nun must make use of the money that has been made to her given for his subsistence.
Here again what God me made known. When the community and the Superior have put in the hands of a nun some money for her subsistence and for her maintenance, this nun must, in order to be in the perfection of his vow of poverty, spend and use the money for the purposes for which it was intended. given. As long as she has money for her subsistence, she does not must not receive alms, because she is not in the the present need to receive it, and that it is not due only to the real poor. To be in the perfection of the vow of poverty, it is necessary today to to be able to receive, for God's sake, the charities that make us are given. If you have only ten ecus, and You put them on deposit by the spirit of greed of which I have referred, and in fear of the needs to come; If after that you live at the expense of the Charity of good souls, and receive all alms that you do, you make yourself owner against the vow of poverty, and you sin seriously without you can almost notice it. If it's a large sum of money, you must first
spend on your needs and your necessities, previously than receiving alms. If it is a small amount that is not enough to feed you half a year, you need to mix this little money with the alms you receive, and spend it lest you happen to offend God. For example, nuns who earn their living, either by their work or by Their science, or their talents, have a great advantage. However I see in God that the most perfect for them would be if, having little or a lot of money in reserve, or as in deposit, they mixed it with that which is given to them for their present subsistence, lest greed come to take hold of them. In times of necessity obvious, where entire families of poor are in a state of scarcity, they must first take this money from reserve, without fear of diminishing it, to assist poor. If they do not do so, and they
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keep money in deposit several years, they surrender owners of this sum.
Fault that the Sister acknowledges having committed against poverty.
Here's the fault I have made, and that God has made me known. Not being able to make a living Because of my age and infirmities, pious people gave me, out of charity, one hundred pounds per year, to help feed the people with whom I residence. I had more than one hundred and fifty-three pounds than my Superior had given me to help me live : I kept this money as in deposit, and at Unbeknownst to the people who fed me out of charity. My Good Superior said to me one day: My Sister, I want you were taking money that you had put in reserve, fifty books a year,
that you will add to the hundred books that charitable people give you to help those who feed you. You will have it for three years; It is much better whether you spend them on your food, than Take alms away from the poor, because it is certain that Those who feed you out of charity give less to the poor. How do you believe
be received before God, keeping this money for the nuns after your death?
I received this order as from God; I was even very pleased, and I promised. it is up to my Superior to carry it out. It expired a quarter of my boarding house, and I added to it what my Superior had prescribed me. But, alas! Here's a damn reflection which came to me on my needs in my illnesses and on my maintenance. I found myself lacking clothing for the winter; I talked to my Superior, and I represented my needs to her rather to come that present.
This good mother yielded to my representations, telling me that he had to use this money as I needed it, either to dress myself or for my necessities in my illnesses.
This is what God does to me know and what it obliges me to. He orders me to give back to those who feed me the money I should have had give them since the time I gave a quarter. I find myself indebted to fifty pounds on Sixty-three books I still have. God wants that with this money I do for the present what I owe, because I I will be in perfect poverty of temporal goods. However, as I have taken the vow of obedience, I will only act on the advice of my confessor and my Superior.
§. VI.
Conduct What must the nuns hold in the world that the revolution forced to leave their monasteries. Suit that they must wear. On this occasion the Sister reports the circumstances of its release and the rules of conduct which Our Lord gave him.
This treaty looks at persons consecrated to God, especially nuns, in times of revolutions and persecutions against the Church, during which the Violence of the persecutors drove the nuns out of their communities to put them in the world as wandering sheep without a shepherd.
This is what the Lord obliges me to write about the conduct to be held by the nuns who find themselves forced to dwell in the world, from what he had made known to me some time Before that cursed
disaster, by which We were threatened to leave by force and violence of our community.
Alarms of the Sister when she learns that she will be taken out of her community. She resorts to prayer.
This incredible misfortune seized the heart so that he knew only answer. I immediately turned to Our Lord, in praying to him in union with the Holy Prayer he made in the garden of Olives on the eve of his holy Passion. Here's what I was asking the Lord: My God, if it is possible, make this chalice pass without us drinking it. I renewed this prayer all The times we were told the cruel news that he was certain that we would be taken out of our community. When I could have time, I went before the Blessed Sacrament crying mercy at the feet of Our Lord, repeating Always the same prayer.
Our Lord declares to him that his exit is ordained in his justice. She submits to it.
Our Lord said to me, " Yes, you will go out, I have ordained it in my righteousness. » And God made me hear that his orders were not only For me, but for almost all communities, this that threw me into alarms worse than death.
Nevertheless I am resigned myself to the will of God, and I sacrifice to his righteousness in the union of the sacrifice that Our Lord had made and offered to His Father by accepting his holy Passion. I said: Alas! Lord, in the Sacrifice I make to you, everything revolts my senses, nature and my own will; but nevertheless I make you the sacrifice. Let your holy will be done, and not the mine. Then I represented to Our Lord all my alarms, saying to him: Lord, this sacrifice costs me more than death. How, my God, to go into the world I hate So much, and that I left with such a great heart? How Will I observe vows elsewhere than
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in a community? And with redoubled moans, I said: My God, where will you lead me, where will you put me for fulfill my obligations and to preserve the spirit of my condition? Our Lord calmed my alarms by telling me, "Do not grieve not so much, my daughter; Have recourse to me, I will be always with you and I will put you in my heart."
From How were the nuns removed from their community.
Then here is the fatal day where our disaster began. A large guard armed soldiers showed up: some of them showed up. detached, climbed the walls, and made lift locks by a locksmith; Then they went up on the windows of the choir where we were all Gathered. Two passed through the windows, and opened all the doors within: then all entered in arms in the choir with us, without touching us nor do we make any insults, not even words. Parents several nuns brought in cars that were brought in. in the fence.
Protest of the Sister before getting in the car.
Holy Providence allowed that it was I who first mounted the car, and this is what happened to me: I felt a vivid impression in my interior from Our Lord, who said to me: "Talk to the congregation, and let them know your pain and the feelings of your heart. » Immediately, without deliberating or thinking, I say, Gentlemen, leave to speak; they gave me audience. I say to them in a loud and animated voice: Know, Gentlemen, that if the law that puts us out of our community, had rather attempted our lives, it would have been for us a grace and a great grace. And incontinent I got in the car with two of our mothers, who had prayed. their brother to take me with them out of charity.
Belongings of his protest.
When we were When we arrived, Our Lord made me understand that if, at the Seen from so many people, we were all Gone out without saying anything, like sheep, there would have been soldiers who would have been greatly scandalized, thinking that they had made us more pleasure than pain. But instead of Scandalized, several of the most inflamed soldiers began to cry. Our Lord also made me hear that at judgment general, to show fairness, it is would serve a few
of the words he had me put in the mouth, in order to manifest the pain that had been done to his wives.
Menstruation of conduct that Our Lord gives to the Sister.
Two or three days later Our exit from the community, imploring in my prayers God's help to assist me and to lead me in this Valley of Tears; Our Lord, by his pure goodness, instructed me in the manner to conduct me, and behold, what he said to me: "Arm yourself like a soldier who enters a battlefield, take offensive and defensive weapons; have a lively faith, a firm hope, an ardent charity; It will be my great love that will make you win victory over all your enemies, and triumph in all your battles. Keep lonely outside, as much as you can. » For the Inner solitude of mind and heart, it is absolutely necessary. Walk in my presence of The way the shadow follows the body is the way to become perfect. Flee the world as I fled; Hate his maxims and his speeches, such as sin; Practice the silence and prayer; love prayer and work; Make penance in tears and in the pain of seeing me so much offended, with the groans of a contrite heart and humiliated. Our Lord added, "This is the conduct of inner life that I prescribe to you. I will tell you enjoin you to observe it as much as you can. I will be with you in all your tribulations; and where you are will lead, I will accompany you. I will observe all your steps, I will serve as your guide in all unknown paths. This is me who am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me Know; also I will call them by name, I will walk before them, and they will follow me. »
By This test Our Lord will know the nuns who are his. Care he will take of them.
The Lord then said to me: "Here I put all the nuns to the test, the good and the bad, and we will see hence the ones that belong to me. The nuns who are at I will always have at heart the spirit of their state by the love they have for me: so I will not abandon them never. As they will have their hearts almost always turned towards me, I will always have my eyes on them. In the needs pressing, and in the sorrows they will feel, I will be Always ready to rescue them. The mother would forget rather the children she bore in her womb, than I will not forget them. I will be their God, their father and their husband, finally their king. »
Our Lord consoles the Sister in the pain she feels to be deprived of the sacraments.
One day, being in a great pain to be deprived of Our Lord reproached me with this sweet reproach: "What Are you complaining, my daughter? Am I not your pastor, your confessor, Your manager? How can you complain about me? I am your all in all things. »
Grace which Our Lord promises to all nuns. Those who will benefit, and those who will not.
Then the Lord said to me: "I will take care of all the nuns, I will instruct them. All in general, the
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good and bad; and in the court of my justice, they shall have no reproach to On the contrary, they will judge themselves on the unfortunate conduct which they will have followed, to the detriment of my grace. I will instruct them and teach them by good books and by the instructions of my ministers. One hundred times, in the secret, I touched their hearts with sharp movements and penetrating of my grace, which makes them known What to do and what to avoid. My wife faithful will listen to me, and, obedient to my inspirations, will execute as much as possible what I will command him about his duties and obligations. But Will it be the worldly nuns who will obey me? No. I will go a hundred times to knock on the door of their hearts, without which open me. Instead of doing like the cautious virgins who, by the attention they have on themselves, avoid all the bad opportunities that can lead them to sin, the latter, on the contrary, seek them out and carry themselves there. of themselves. In my turn, I will withdraw from them, how they withdraw from me. What can I expect from these worldly nuns and infidels in their community, except that they trample underfoot all my benefits, and that they take pleasure in searching for conversations worldly, instead of being faithful to my grace. I will abandon them to their reprobate feeling; I let the pleasures run and
search for world satisfactions; and instead of building up the world, they will scandalize him.
My wife, on the contrary, by the attention it has on itself and on its obligations, will make respectable to all, even to her enemies, and everyone will look at her and recognize her for a good and true nun. And what I say about This good nun, I say of all those who are at me and who are faithful to me. It was to them that I said: Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Be holy because your Heavenly Father is three holy times. »
Suit that nuns must wear in the world.
I have to declare what God has made known to me in His light About the costume of the nuns who were thrown away in the world, and who have been stripped of the holy habit of religion to clothe them in secular clothes.
Their hairdo.
I see in God that he is messing to a chaste wife of J. C., to have the head and collar dressed in the fashion of the people of the world. God's will is that every nun should the head a guimpe that squeezes the circumference of the face and that makes the turn of the collar, that what falls from the guimpe on the chest and on the shoulders, raised around the collar; than the headband of religion be put to the head over the guimpe; whether it is one-third or one-half of the front, Underneath a rolet headdress that overflows a little headband, falling on the forehead; that the collar handkerchief be bleached strand or linen canvas; that the canvas of the headdress be of same species as the handkerchief they will put over The Tour de la Guimpe, tight with a pin at the top of the collar; that both legs of the headdress are equally tied below the chin, not raised on the head; the hood is of wool, without silk border; that it extends the cap from the width of a finger towards the eyebrows; that the nuns wear it daily to supplement the veil; but when they are obliged by necessity to go out, they will put it lower, if they wish, to their devotion.
Colour and simplicity of their clothing.
Here's what I saw again in God about all the secular garments that can wear nuns. There are three colors: first is brown, of the simplest wool fabric, for Imitating Virgos
Wise men who live in the Holy Church by renouncing the world and all his maxims, and who, to show that they keep celibacy, wear brown; the second garment is black, for imitate that of ecclesiastical vestments; the third is white, in imitation of the white dress that was given to Our Lord in Herod. This white garment can only be of strand or linen, or wool simpler.
I see in God that the poor nuns who cannot afford to buy a habit complete, can use the religious clothing of their community, unleash them and put them in clothes secular, of whatever colour; it is supposed to that they are not of worldly color.
All nuns may wear clothing of one of the three colours above designated, and even gray, which was for use in their community, provided that these garments are of the simplest fabrics and according to modesty, the Holy poverty and holy abjection.
Their shoes.
Flee all modes of the world, even in footwear; Let the shoes get closer as many as possible of those worn in the community; let it be the same for the stockings, and let there never be a stripes neither in flannels nor in fabrics. If some people, out of charity,
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give some clothing striped of the nuns, they must have them dyed before wearing them. They are also obliged, when they go out, to wear on their clothes a black wool mantlet, without any worldly way, for greater modesty.
Their put to bed.
All the nuns are obliged, as far as they can, to sleep in beds, as in their communities, styled as they were. Those who slept clothed must put on their dress and
belt, as in their community. I know of several who do that. In Time of terror, any nun can disguise herself to to procure the sacraments.
§. VII.
How The nuns who are in the world must observe their vows. Vows of obedience and poverty.
The nuns are obliged to strive for perfection by the observance of their vows.
I still have to, with regard to the nuns, to report something on observing their vows while they are in the world. There are nuns so imperfect, what imagine that being outside their communities, they have almost Nothing to observe either of their vows or of their rules. It seems to them that everything is cancelled and that they are no longer obliged to nothing, since they are no longer in their community. This blindness comes from the fact that they do not tend not with all their heart to perfection, to which Yet they are obliged to strive, on pain of sin. mortal.
For if Our Lord said in His Gospel: "Be perfect as your Father celestial is perfect," I see in God that it is not not to have the presumption and the audacity to want to achieve the holiness of God who is three times holy. Our Lord marks by this that every Christian is obliged to tend to the perfection of his condition, but particularly that anyone devoted to God by the state of holiness to which God calls him, is obliged to strive for perfection with all her heart and with all his soul for the love of God, and on pain of mortal sin; and that if it ceases to tend to perfection, and if it forgets this great point, either out of contempt, either by negligence or fear of becoming scrupulous, It's a mistake.
Illusion about the vow of obedience.
I see in God that such nuns distance themselves from God and forget Him; that they forget themselves and most of their obligations. For example, about the vow of obedience, imperfect nuns, who are forced to live in the world, will find that they are outside the yoke of obedience, no longer under the eyes of the Superior;
and as they had a General permission to leave the community, they form a plan of life in the world, according to their pleasure and according to their own will; they are say in themselves: I am gone before God, my Superior gave me full permission. They do hear to all those who want to listen to them, that they act with the permission of their Superior.
When they go to confess, they find almost nothing they can on do their review. If they have any permission to ask to their confessor, they will not address themselves to those who have more experience on religious life; they will go find one that, perhaps, has never done any studies monastic vows: they will ask his permission to walk and get some fresh air for their health. This confessor, who is unfamiliar with the extent of the Wishes, allows them all to large and wide. Poor things daughters! That's all they want.
If the Superior learns that they give themselves too much freedom, and if she wants take them back and make them charitable remonstrances, they answer: My mother, I have my permission. confessor. This good Mother Superior will reply to them My sisters, not all gentlemen priests say same; I've found a few who see harm where the others find none. These nuns will answer him My mother, you will seek the most scrupulous: for We obey our confessor, and we are in the way of salvation. In, so that the Superior is obliged to give in and withdraw.
Character of true obedience.
All the evil comes from this that we do not enter enough into ourselves, and that we do not meditate not on its obligations. The nun who tends to Perfection finds many topics on which it can examine each other. Walking in the presence of God, she will not No step, no approach, it will not form any project without consult God and His conscience to know if there is nothing in this against his wishes or against his obligations. Remembering that Our Lord has been obedient, and obedient Until the death of the cross for our love, she will do everything her best to return love for love, and she will do nothing in all his actions that could be contrary
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at will of God. Almost always busy examining herself, she says in itself: Is this really the will of God I do? Am I where God wills me? It obeys His Holy Grace as much as it is possible for Him, thinking that it is to God Himself to whom it obeys. She occasionally obeys his Superior, either by letters, if it is too far from her, or by way voice when going to find her. This good nun asks him exactly his permissions, and gives him an account of his conduct Not only for the exterior, but also for the interior. She engraves long before in her heart the charitable advice and remonstrances that his good mother gives him, considering that it holds for him the place of God himself.
The faith and love of God, offensive and defensive weapons of a Good nun.
This good nun is continuously clad in its offensive and defensive weapons, as we have already said. These weapons are faith and the love of God. The torch of faith leads her in all her steps, and enlightens him in all his actions. God's love ignites him so vividly and unites him so closely to her husband, that it seems that she is more at God only to herself; that God is like the life of his life, and the soul of his soul.
Accustomed to act by the truths of faith that leads it straight to God, without any evil detours, she has no other occupation than that of pleasing her husband and living under her dependence and in its presence. She meditates, as far as she can, her holy law, her divine commandments and all her obligations, convinced that this is the way that God marked him to achieve his enjoyment in the sky. Blessed are the nuns who will behave in this way!
Trait of a nun who was accustomed to the presence of God.
In my community, I knew a nun who, speaking to me of God, said to me suddenly, in a way that shows that this came out of the abundance of his heart: Ah! my Sister, that it is a great misfortune to lose the presence of God Length only of a pater and an ave! I tell him I asked without curiosity, but to instruct myself, how she behaved with the nuns at the workhouse, where he was allowed to talk while working in the afternoon. She replied simply: My sister, like the
presence of God is used to me, it happens to me sometimes, after saying A few words to the nuns, to lose all attention to the creatures and everything they say; so that I could not account for all that was said and all that was that happened.
In what is true religious poverty? Its extent.
Let's also say something on the vow of poverty that must be observed by the religious in the world, in times of persecution. He must practice exactly Holy Poverty, which is inseparable from the holy abjection, his eldest daughter. This virtue contains three things: absolute poverty of everything good temporal, poverty of mind, poverty of heart, that is, of every desire, even of any consolation.
Poverty by J. C.
I always come back to this divine model, our adorable Savior, who practiced such great poverty from birth to death. We see this holy poverty shine in his person and This holy abjection. Ah! what abjection for this Savior God, than to be born on manure, between two animals, and to be lying in a manger! He begins to kiss poverty, and she accompanies him throughout her life to the tomb, as we see in the Gospel, that has come to announce us to instruct us in His holy law. This divine The Savior created heaven and earth.
All properties are at he, and yet he had no temporal goods, nor house, nor land, no rent, and lived only on alms from people Charitable. He was in this world like a pilgrim who passes, who possesses nothing but his life, and for make his journey as the charities that are given to him. It does not have only, this divine Saviour, enough to pay tribute to Caesar. He must perform a miracle; He works miracles several times for his creatures when they are in need and the They lacked food, as happened to multiply loaves. Alas! this divine Savior does not do the same for himself, nor for his apostles; for it is said that one day that they were in need and in the Need to eat, without having enough to eat, this amiable The Saviour had no recourse to a miracle; but he set himself on, he and his apostles, to cut ears of wheat in a field, to grind them in their hands, and to put in their mouths a few pinches that they ate to appease their hunger a little. What! divine Saviour, you have performed miracles so many times to feed
hermits at the bottom of the Deserts! you have sent them bread through your angels, and sometimes even by beasts!
O holy poverty! oh Holy abjection! that you are loved by my Savior! it takes you as a companion throughout her life, and stay attached to you until death. He wants to die in your arms. It seems to me that heaven and earth have agreed and conspired together to afflict and make suffer from
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anyway this lovable Savior. He is deprived of all divine consolations and human. It looks like the sky has turned brass for him refuse any help. What! he prays to his Father, and this divine Father no longer hears his Son, and his only begotten Son! What was the subject of this gracious Savior's righteous complaint on the cross: My God, why did you forsake me? He complains of thirst, it is watered with fiel and vinegar; He is denied a glass of water. O Holy poverty! You stripped him of his own clothes to leave him lying naked on the cross ! O what destitution! O what abandonment! O what a sacrifice of all! O my divine Saviour, in what state are you reduced for our love!
The cross of J. C. is the pulpit from which he preaches to souls the most sublime perfection.
I see in God that this divine Saviour, true God and true man, attached to the cross, has makes this cross a pulpit, whence like a divine Preacher, he leads by example, preaches the holiest doctrine, and shows all the virtues in their most sublime and divine perfection. To see him in this state, where he works the greatest miracle that ever was, and that can never be understood by men; to preview Something of this miracle, we must consider this divine Saviour on the cross as on a throne of righteousness, hence He spoke this word which he said in his mortal life: " When the Son of Man will be lifted up between heaven and the earth, he will draw everything to himself. I see in God that he draws everything to Himself by lively faith, by ardent love and by the desire to tend, each in his own state, to the perfection.
The souls consecrated to God by the vows that do not tend not to perfection, retreat without realizing it.
I see in God that all souls who have made solemn vows and have consecrated to God more particularly than the common of Christians, are obliged, by their profession, to strive unceasingly to perfection; if they move away from this point, wherever they forget themselves in leading a soft life and seeking to hold the middle, that is, not to be quite bad, for fear of giving scandal, but also to put on the side of the desire and the means to strive for the perfection of their state; if, in this provision, they live content, Believing that they are doing their salvation, these souls forget these words: who does not move forward retreats. I see in God that they are receding by a in such a way, that they fall from blindness to blindness, almost without realizing it; they don't even notice that they are in the ways of perdition.
The faithful souls, on the contrary, who constantly tend to perfection, advance much without realizing it.
I also see in God that Faithful souls to listen to grace and to put into practice what it inspires them, which does not set limits to the activity of their desires; which constantly tend to purify and sanctify, and who work in the light and in the spirit of faith and pure love of God, in order to please more and more more to their divine Saviour by the practice of virtues; I see in God, I say, that it often happens to these good souls to make great strides towards perfection, almost without doing so see. I see in this adorable Saviour the graces of sanctification that continually flow upon these souls, and by which he draws them to him, who is the author of all perfection.
Practice poverty. Having nothing of their own; receive all in alms.
Here is the Holy poverty, what must be practiced for the outside and for the interior all the nuns who are obliged to live in the world.
They must strongly persuade that they are among the poor and that they have takes a vow of poverty. The poor who ask alms at the gates may dispose of what is given to them, and to say: this is mine; but the nun cannot say it, nor can she say. even think so, she has to look at herself
like a pilgrim, A stranger who lives at the expense of the saint charity provided by Holy Providence, and receiving everything, when it would be just a pear or an apple, or a glass water. She must receive everything out of charity as almsgiving; it will have no trouble doing so, if it is truly poor in heart, mind and will.
But, some will tell me religious, I am of family and of great birth; I am at My close relatives, I cannot stand out in Because of my vow of poverty, I am obliged to eat at their table. This is what I see in God, All nun died to her parents; it must receive from them all the good they do him out of pure charity and love of God.
Conduct of a nun in the home of poor relatives.
When God puts a religious at the table of holy poverty, and that he experiences it by scarcity, which happens when it remains in poor people who can hardly give him things necessary for life, then this good nun, who carries in his heart his vow of poverty, will suffer Famine with joy and consolation, and will bless the Lord to see himself able to practice his vow of poverty. And this is what every nun must do, when God gives him the opportunity.
Trait of love for poverty in a nun today.
This is how a Good nun nowadays. She was lodged in the poor mansion of a old building. There were several openings that were not plugged only by cobwebs and dust. She loved herself in
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this mansion. Or willed, Out of charity, to house her elsewhere. No, she said, I cannot Leaving this dwelling that has so much to do with the stable of Bethlehem where my Savior was born. To earn his Life, she took small children to teach. For its salary, some brought him small pieces of bread, and others
small chanteaux (1); from so that sometimes she had too much at once. She ate moldy; but lest she let him lose, she agreed that bread would be given to him only once or twice a week, and in some small amount. God, who still wanted to test him, allowed these good people to forget to bring him bread to the Day marked. It was even in a time of fasting. This nun only did not think that she had no what to dine. When the hour came, at noon, she went to dinner. She finds only a small crust of bread of two or three Bites. It was then that his heart blossomed from Joy and consolation.
(1) Quarter of a loaf.
"Ah!" she said, "here I am. at the table of holy poverty. My god! I will tell you Give thanks for what you put me in a position to Practicing my vow of poverty.
At that moment she came to remember that its founder, following the example of Our Lord, had begged for his bread. I must not, she said, to tempt God, and think that He is going to perform a miracle to feed me. I go to get bread from the doors, for God's sake. Sound heart, all filled with love for God, was in the jubilation, and rejoiced to find this opportunity to practice humility and holy abjection. She leaves, and goes at the nearest neighbour. In the mind of a good poor man, for the love of God, and out of charity, she asks for a piece of bread for dinner. These poor people, very astonished and surprised, gave him for his dinner what they could have, and said to him, Madam, when you need it, come to us, as long as we have bread, you will have it; but Please, do not ask for it out of pure charity, nor out of This way pains us too much. When you will come and look for some from us, if there were only the Children, that's it where the bread is put, enter boldly, as if it were in your house, and take as much as you need. The nun answered, No, my friends, I will not do that, and I beg you not to hurt yourselves whenever You will see me come to ask you for alms out of charity and for God's sake. I will, because I have to and I have to. I was compelled to do so by my vow of poverty. I will tell you Beg me not to stop me from practicing it, because you would cause a lot of pain. All I ask of you, I ask of you ask for charity, and all that I receive, I receive out of charity and for God's sake. It's Why, my good people, please do not find it bad. I cannot help it. I got used to it out of respect for my vow of poverty, and I am a real poor person.
Conduct of a nun in the home of wealthy parents.
I see in God that the nuns who are in the world and with very close relatives rich, are more to be pityed than those I have just complained. speak. However, they can observe their vows, at least inwardly, and strive to perfection, if they practice outside what God makes me write. If they are forced to eat at the table of their parents, every day, and that they cannot do otherwise, They must have in view holy poverty, and presence of Our Lord, who sees and considers them everywhere. By This means, they will take courage, and they will have a great trust in God and in the love of Our Lord.
Being at table, they must look modest, clothes suitable for a nun, and in accordance with the poverty and holy abjection. They must have nothing worldly in dress or words, nor in maintenance; have their eyes, lowered without affectation, speak very little and only out of necessity; be careful to give attention to worldly speeches or profane, and to those who attack several virtues all at once. They must remain deeply silent, without mixing any speech to the conversation, except that, when they are taken back from their silence, they must answer simply: I have nothing to say to these speeches, they are not of my state and look at me not; and returning to themselves, they remember that Our Lord considers them and looks at them take their meal. If the table is well served in the ordinary, They must not forget holy poverty and poverty. Holy Abjection, inseparable of humility, which lives only on mortifications.
The nuns must use wine, coffee and liquor only as a remedy and out of necessity. They must refuse any invitation to a meal and not attend none.
I see in God that the nuns shall not use wine, liquor, or coffee, unless they take them as a remedy or by a Great necessity. If it happened that a nun was asked, in her family or elsewhere, to go to dinner, supper or snack, she must not go there at all; This is absolutely contrary to his wishes and his Obligations. She exposes herself
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pose herself in the world, against God's defense of her In fact. She must respond to those who invite her to come and eat at their place: I am obliged to you, I cannot do it Go, my conscience does not allow me, in relation to my duties and obligations. It should not be afraid to to make it appear that the spirit of his state prevents him to show themselves in the world.
The nuns must be careful not to attach themselves to what they are being given gives, to what they earn by their work, and to Money.
If it happens to a a religious who lives with her parents, rich or poor, feed their parents or other people, she must exempt herself absolutely, and do everything her possible not to attend the meal, did she have to eat in the corner of an attic. It must also withdraw into the solitude, as far as it will be possible for him, and, there, recite thereon his mental prayers, his office, doing his readings, and his work during the hours she did them in her community.
Let every nun be gives guard to attach oneself to an affection proper to what Charity and their work can produce them: think that the spirit of poverty forbids them to say: it is mine; and even that they cannot stop voluntarily to this thought, because they have not just as a deposit that must be used for their use in necessity, and who must not for this be employed to provide them with superfluous things, Neither clothing according to the worldly spirit, nor food too much delicate, which would be contrary to the spirit of poverty and mortification.
Like the nuns, in the unfortunate state in which they find themselves, cannot dispense with having any money, let them take care that this Damn money does not make them commit many mistakes. The devil will all her efforts to inspire an immortified nun of the desires and affections that lead her to satisfy his lust. A hundred times she will think about her money, and will feel the desire to have everything that can satisfy, either in clothing or food. Others religious, on the contrary, will prefer to lack what is necessary, than to squirm at their money. They will work day and night, leaving aside their prayers, readings and devotional prayers, which were customary in their community, to the detriment of their
Hi, and that to win money and grow their purse. Only look at your money in Moaning; Think it's a snake you keep with you, and that, if you misuse it against your Obligations, this snake will devour you and lose you.
Trait of a religious whom the devil tries to tempt by bait a purse full of gold and silver.
A religious saint being On a road with his companion, saw the demon that gave them set a trap, putting a purse of money in the way where they had to go. This scholarship was untied, and gold and silver were seen in it. The good saint passes without touching this purse, and observing the religious who was with him, lest he should touch it. Precisely this religious stooped to get his hands on the purse. The other prevented him promptly, saying to him, "My brother, what are you doing?" It's The devil who sets a trap for us. If you touch the Stock Exchange, the devil is in it under the figure of a snake that will you devouring the hand. In this moment the devil is Seeing defeated, disappeared like smoke.
The religious should avoid down beds.
I see in God that the nuns who are with wealthy relatives must take care of lay too soft on the down. If they stay with Republicans who upset them on religion, they must of all necessity leave their homes, and seek another asylum with some good Christians.
§. VII.
Continuation of the same subject. Vows of chastity and closure. Conclusion on the obligation to strive for perfection, and on The deplorable blindness of nuns who neglect their vows to follow the maxims and usages of the world.
Manner external to observe the vow of chastity in the world. Simplicity in clothing. Modesty in everything.
Let's move on now to the vows of chastity and closure. The wish of chastity, for the exterior, consists in the fact that a chaste wife of J. C. is as much on guard to keep her treasure, let the miser beware of thieves, in fear that his treasures are not taken from him. A good nun must be modest; it must be modest in his clothes, as I have said so many times, and as I repeat again; it must not have in his clothes nothing that is in the worldly way, not even a fold or needle stitch. On the contrary, it must, in its clothing, counteract the fashions of the world, so that everyone who will see, can say that it is not fashionable. It must walk with lowered eyes, when accompanied of seculars, and even when she is with Religious. In all his words, in all his actions, in Its maintenance, in a word, must set an example of a holy modesty, and to carry everywhere the image of a wife of J. C. She must especially take care to kiss No one, especially men, not even his brothers, and
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show even very reserved with regard to persons of his sex, unless they are sisters who live distant from her, and whom she rarely sees, or grandchildren of his close relatives, or even others. But As for boys, she must not kiss them above twelve years. She must never sleep with secular women, not even with nuns, unless there is a Great necessity, and that it was only once in passer-by.
Alone or in company, a nun should never cross legs over each other the other. This posture is a use of the world, indecent for a nun.
Not point receive visits.
It must never receive visits from the people of the world, especially in the subject of a marriage, unless it is by surprise, and that she could not avoid it. You can always apologize honestly and politely, saying: It's against our state to receive visits from the people of the world, because it is defended by our rules and our
obligations, to receive visits, or even to make them by tickets. I see in God that these visits displease him greatly, because it is such as maintaining a certain correspondence with the world; what provides interviews with people around the world that are sometimes against the obligations of a nun.
Trait of a nun who, forced to be present at dangerous interviews, was assisted and instructed by N. S.
I know a nun who, on leaving his community, stayed with people who were receiving visits. This nun, very embarrassed, and suffering in his consciousness of hearing, in these conversations People of the world, several speeches that were against his obligations, represented to the persons with whom she resided, that it was useless for her to be in the conversation of these people of the world, and that his conscience was too much Embarrassed. She begged them to allow her retired alone to an apartment. But these people replied that it would not be, and wanted her to stayed with them. This nun thought she had to obey, and took his side, when she saw that she could not do otherwise.
One day, among others, he There came a visit from people of both sexes. This was at work; and as he does not was not allowed to leave him and leave the apartment, One cannot express how much their conversation made her suffer. She could not voluntarily afford to look up for the To watch.
A gentleman, in particular, began to make speeches not of a Christian, but rather from a pagan. This nun strove more and more to lift up his heart to God, seeing that it was not permissible to answer him, saying, Lord, have mercy on me, and do not leave me perish. This God of goodness came to his rescue, and in a very special way, by saying to him: " My daughter, here I am, I'm going to make conversation with you. » This nun found herself so strongly attracted to God that she lost all the understanding of the ears of the body, without, however, stop working. She does not know how the end of the conversation. She no longer saw or heard anything that was going on. said, and they withdrew without her noticing.
Our Lord made to know to this same nun as she was not obliged to obey the people with whom she dwelt, and even for the future, in some house where She found herself, when one would like to restrain her to make her do things contrary to its obligations, or that would hold to the maxims of the world, it was not to be obeyed, and be firm in refusal;
that if people persisted, she had to look for another house, where There would be no such disorder. The Lord always assists those who have recourse to him, and who have a Good will to please him.
Manner external to observe the closing vow in the world. The mistake about this wish.
I still have some Something to say about the outside of the closing vow.
I am not talking about what look inside the vows, because I have dealt with them above. There are many nuns who believe they are not not obliged to the closing vow, and even Many ecclesiastical gentlemen think the same. I knew one who felt that way. He was question of going for a walk in the countryside. This gentleman priest told me that I had to walk with the company. I replied that I couldn't do it because of my vow to fence. He replied that I was no more obliged to the fence than him. Gentlemen priests understand that in order to observe the vow of closure, It is necessary to be in community and in closure, of so that the people of the world can only enter when they are brought in for necessary things; and the In this sense, they are right.
One religious must not go out unnecessarily.
A nun who did not the mind of her state, will easily believe that she can no longer observe her closing vow, and by the reason that she Is not pines in community, she will believe it canceled. But A good nun who has the inner spirit and love of her obligations in her heart, though she is out of her community, will do everything it can to keep its wishes, and especially the closing one. It will abstain
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to come and go, and to any visits that it deems unnecessary or unnecessary.
In what cases nuns can go out.
Here's what I see in God. Nuns can legitimately go out when he it is a question of approaching the sacraments, either far away or closely, or to change confessors, when they have no confidence in the one they have. Similarly, they can go out for to satisfy the precept of our Mother Holy Church, by attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In this case, the right nun will go straight her way, always having in sight her vow of closing. After hearing the Mass and filling his obligations, she will return directly home, without making any fuss. Tours neither here nor there. On the contrary, a dissipated nun, who has forgotten his wish for closure, will go to the Holy Mass, and after hearing it, will have no other care than to take walks and visits in the world. She will have dinner once in one house, and another time in another. I see before God that this nun does more harm than good, and that she had better stay at home and hear the saint Mass. It seems to me, from what I see in God, that the nuns are not obliged to go to Vespers, nor to salvation, even if they were near the Church, and that they are more obliged to remain lonely in their particular and to satisfy their wish. If the world is badly built, and let it make them one reproach, that they reply that they are united with the Church by their prayers, but that their vow of Fence prevents them from going out and exempts them from going out assist. I even see that on days of the week when the Holy Mass is not a precept, they are obliged to keep their vow and to hear Holy Mass at home, at unless there is a need to approach Sacraments.
For nuns who are united together in order to earn a living, and who have not not the means to have a maid, they can go out legitimately for all that is necessary to life, and for all other needs. The nuns can still go out to report to their superior, of their interior, and to know how they should be behave in relation to their obligations. If the superior swore (1), probably he should not be asked for any permission, nor recognize her for her superior. The nuns can still go out to see their sisters community, inquire if they are not lacking, either in the spiritual, or in the temporal, and assist them in their Necessities. The nuns who are housed in the narrow, and which have no garden, can go out for go get some fresh air in the gardens closest to them and the more withdrawn; But they must choose when There is no one there, especially no men.
(1) Takes the oath required by the Convention.
The work the most pleasing to God that can do nuns obliged to earn a living, is to instruct the small children.
For nuns who are obliged to earn a living, I see in God that of all the works they can do, the one that is the most enjoyable It is to God to instruct little children. God will draw His glory from it and the salvation of these good nuns; and if it were a question to confess one's faith at the risk of one's life, one would see these nuns as firm as a rock in the middle of the waves of the sea. I see in God that nuns can instruct little ones boys and girls alike, and teach them main truths of faith, to enable them to make their First Communion. They do not owe them learn neither to read nor to write, but only The Catechism.
If there were secular or secular close enough of them, who had schools, then they must not Educate only girls.
One religious must fulfill exactly all her obligations out of love.
It is still necessary that the nuns omit none of their principal obligations, and in particular of those which are of precept, unless the Church does not exempt them. Our Lord says in the Gospel, that those who love it are the very ones who shall keep His commandments. No doubt the good Lord does not look especially that love; It is love that makes everything and everything do undertake. Love is never idle, it perseveres always without ever saying: That's enough. There will only be the true, wives of J. C. who will love him from this sort; who shall keep the holy commandments of God; that will tend with all their hearts to observe all that they can of their obligations, and who will persevere by their Love to love him more and more: for a faithful wife of J. C., the more she loves, the more she wants to love.
God easily forgives faults of fragility to the soul that loves him.
It's not just those who really like not to make mistakes: yes, they Commit. Love does not make impeccable, especially In the time we are, where the path of virtue is so difficult, and the not so slippery. But if you fall, Chaste wife of J. C, do not lose heart, our adorable Savior is ready to lift you up and you forgive, as long as your heart is very angry, and that your will has a great desire to do better. This God of goodness knows our weaknesses and our infirmity, and knows that we can do nothing without His grace. We will not miss her;
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So let us try to do so. correspond and be faithful to it.
That that the Sister had written about perfection comes from God. Obligation to correspond to grace and to tend to perfection.
If I had it written above on monastic vows in their perfection, I could not dispense with it; it does not come from me. Believe what I see in God touching grace, actions, Christian virtues and religious; for I see in God that, as he is infinitely perfect, all graces and the virtues are intended to bring us to perfection, and I see in the blink of an eye that everything that comes immediately of God is perfect. I also see in God that there are graces which require greater perfection than the others. We are all obliged to correspond according to the graces that God has given us. We don't wear perfection like a dress; It is a very narrow and strong path difficult. We have several falls, but
he We must get up and not abandon the path of perfection to missteps and for falls.
Those Rules of perfection do not concern the nuns Worldly. Their deplorable conduct.
What I had written Above looks particularly at the good nuns who have their salvation at heart and who will observe, by grace of God, all that they can of the obligations of their state; But this is none of the world's business. I name them Thus, because they run in the broad way of the worldly in abandoning all the practices of their vows and their obligations, by deluding themselves, and by saying that, no longer in their community, they do not are no longer obliged to anything.
O my God! You said in the Gospel that you were the Good Shepherd and that you knew your sheep, and they knew you; that you
walk before them, and that they followed you. Ah! No doubt that the bad nuns make themselves known, because they do not make you do not follow. On the contrary, you called them several times by your graces, but they have turned their backs on you and have fled from you running away to sensual pleasures and deceitful vanities of the world. They still qualify themselves to be the number of your wives; but, alas! they are wives who resemble foolish virgins who have no of oil in their lamps, that is, which have neither faith nor love, nor desire to please their husband. We sees running down the path of perdition and exposing himself without fear to A thousand occasions to commit sins, against their vows and their obligations, seeking the companies of worldly, following their corrupt maxims and imitating them in their modes. Alas! alas! What can we think and say of these poor misguided? The day is not enough for them to Seek out unregulated pleasures among the socialites, they still spend part of the nights there. Until Their clothes and ornaments they make themselves known. That shall I say of these fashionable dresses, silk, muslin, batiste and Indian? lace and linon, with the big cockade of the most fashionable ribbons, and The watch at the side? From the feet to the head, everything in them imitates fashion. What scandal give these religious by receiving visits from the people of the world and by rendering in this way!
Different kind of unfaithful nuns. What they are in the eyes of God.
I still see in God other nuns, and in greater numbers, who take as a Some milieu, want not to be quite neither so bad, nor so superbly dressed, nor so worldly than those of which I have just spoken; but nevertheless they imitate bad nuns more than good ones. I still see in God that the most evil of all are those who have sworn and those who got married. They are watched before God and before men as monsters of abomination. He There are still a number of other nuns who do not have sworn, who did not marry, but who are so superb, so proud and worldly, may God hate them and that he puts them among those who indulge in their reprobate sense.
For nuns who hold the middle between the good and the bad, they are, by their inconstancy, sometimes to God, sometimes to the devil. They make several deviations, and when they notice it, They strive to rise up with the help of grace. But the scandals they give
are quite pernicious and harm all nuns except to good and accurate nuns. This is the name God gives them. These good nuns who strive for perfection do not examine not how others act; they listen only to God and their conscience. But as for the imperfect or evil nuns, I see that the devil sets traps for them and gives them the temptation to reflect on the misconduct of other nuns, by making them hear: Such a nun And such another do this well, do that well. For example, companies of the world, conversations with worldly people, Shopping and visits that are useless, what will I finally say? One hundred Other defects, serve as bad examples to some and others, and they say: Since nuns do these
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things, I can well too do them. This is how they communicate this evil to each other. which spreads like the plague. So many evils only happen Because we miss to go into ourselves and think on the state of his consciousness.
One Saint Founder appears to a nun of his order. Lesson he gives her.
I report here what came to a nun who still lives, when she was in his community. One day his holy founder appeared to him and made herself known to her. Carried away with joy and As a consolation, she throws herself on her knees and begins to say to him: Ah! My father, ah! my father, tell me, if he please, something for my instruction. This Good Saint replied, You call me your father, and you have Reason, because I am. Go into yourself, see and Consider if you are my child. Just now He disappeared.
At the moment the nun asked God for the grace to know the state of his consciousness. Then she received a light interior that made him discover many defects on his vows, on his rule and on all his Obligations. At the same time this light made him see the state of perfection in which it should
strive to achieve the sanctity of his state. She also lives how many she was distant by its faults.
ARTICLE V.
A few details of the agony of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives, and on its resurrection. Convenient for the relief of souls in Purgatory. Warning that the Sister of the Nativity received from Our Lord and the Holy One Virgin.
§. I.
Circumstances of J. C.'s agony Causes of his pain. Greatness of His Love for men.
State J. C.'s interior in the course of his mortal life and during his passion.
I report here what Our Lord told me about several points of His holy passion. Our Lord tells me that in the whole course of his life mortal the eternal clarity of his divinity, as God, was unveiled and united to his holy humanity, as a man; from so that like God and man he enjoyed it in himself, without dazzling outside, and that on Mount Tabor there is none revealed only a faint radius. But in the days of his Passion, from the Last Supper to the Resurrection of his sacred body, Our Lord was deprived, as man, of that divine clarity of his divinity.
Our Lord said to me, "He was pulled like a pancake. Black on my mind and on my understanding so that my dear soul was as if surrounded and veiled: she could not see More than the cross and the torments of my passion; but in particular, the greatest torment with which it was burdened, this was the weight of the number and enormity of the crimes committed and to be committed from the beginning of the world until the end of the centuries, which came to unload over her, and the righteousness of God my father, who asked that they were atoned for by the blood of a God. That was what made me Pushing this just
complaint, approaching the Garden of Olives: My soul is sad until death. »
First vision of the place where Our Lord suffered His cruel agony. The shape of his body imprints on the earth.
I found myself one day, for the second time, in the Garden of Olives, in the same place where Our Lord had suffered His harsh agony. The first once I saw this place, Our Lord did not make Himself see at me. I was alone; yet I live, in the light of God, that this was the place where my Savior had so much suffered, and this is what I noticed. The impression that the sacred Jesus' body was made in the square where he was in knees, sank into it somewhat, when Our Lord prostrated his most holy face down. I live there his sacred Printed portrait, arms and shoulders, and shape a
body on earth. I live than by the sweat of his precious blood, which had penetrated his robe, the place where he was was red, and that even this earth had taken on a certain color, as if it had been kneaded and trodden with that
precious blood. There are had places that were more blood-soaked than others, and especially the place where he had prostrated his most holy face; and we can believe that our divine Savior had wept tears of blood. At the place where the edges of her dress had worn, one saw large tears of blood stuck together and frozen on the earth, and who had fallen from his garments. This is what I experienced the first time, on Holy Thursday at Evening.
Second vision of the same place. Our Lord appears to him and to him explains the meaning of his prayer to his Father.
Some time later Having seen what I have just said, as I used to watch over the Night of Holy Thursday, and to spend it almost white in front of the Blessed Sacrament, in honor of the Holy Passion of our divine Savior, meditating that night on the mysteries sorrowful of Our Lord, I reflected on his agony in the Garden of Olives. Suddenly I found myself by the spirit of the Lord in the same place I had seen some time previously. I recognized the same place, which I had seen, and which had told me that he was the one where Our Lord had suffered
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his Holy agony. At the same moment, Our Lord appeared to me all close to me, and said to me: "My child, this is the place where I have suffered so much for your love and for the love of everything the human race. I fought and I was alone in fight against all my enemies.
» I want you To learn that the first time I prostrated myself before the majesty of God my father, it was to ask for mercy by the feeling and movement of my holy humanity which was overwhelmed on all sides. In this posture humiliating I made this representation to the saint majesty of God, saying: My father, if he is It is possible that this chalice of opprobrium and humiliation passes without I drink it. But as soon as my love for mankind became more Powerful than the executioners and my people to make me die, immediately this divine, eternal and infinite love answers me. In the union of my Father's Holy Will, let him not did not want it, that he opposed it, that he would win the victory, and that it would be he who would triumph over death, and death over death. cross. And I answered, My father, may your will be accomplished, not mine.
First J. C. prayer
My first prayer, effect of nature, was caused by the sight of desolation and abominations committed in the holy places, of all the sacrileges and all the profanations of the holy mysteries, and again by the sight of my chosen people, whom I had drawn from among pagans and barbarians, and who was the very one who, among all my creatures, had chosen and elected me to crucify as a scoundrel and a thief; again Had he joined all my creatures, my creatures, my ministers, priests, men and women religious, all those who solemn vows have become my beloved people and favored, and several of which subsequently turned me on and betrayed me as one of my apostles, Judas... Ah! my People, why are you betraying me like this? If at least you didn't lose point your soul! On which side shall I wait for help,
since Those on whom I should have counted, abandoned me!. So all my
people, that of the old and that of the New Testament, meet together to meet Give support: to the scribes and Pharisees, to put me at death; to Pilate to condemn me, and to the executioners, to condemn me crucify. They separate themselves from innocent souls and faithful, in order to consult each other
with Judas to betray me. All these misfortunes joined together are like a torrent that drags me and overwhelms me before majesty and justice of God my father. »
Charity of Our Lord to his apostles.
Our Lord said to me, " I got up the first time to go and revive the courage of my apostles, who were asleep. The charity that I had in my heart for them and for all my ministers of the The new Church did not allow me to abandon them. After having awakened them from body and soul, I returned to my prayer, where I contemplated the offense. made unto God my father, by the great number and the enormity of the crimes I had taken on and made surety, to repair, like God, majesty of God my father, who was outraged, and for To suffer, as a man, torments, agonies, annihilation, and finally death, only sins of my people had deserved.
Second J. C. prayer
I prostrated myself again saying, My father, since it is your will that I drink this chalice, I consent to it; that your will be done, not mine. Our Lord returns for a second times awaken his apostles, but he awakens them simply without saying a word to them, and then returns to his prayer.
J. C. the Good Shepherd. Care he takes of his apostles. Example which he gives to the pastors of his Church.
This is what Our Lord said to me, "I am the true and the good one. pastor. I never abandon my sheep. Then our Lord looked at me, saying, "My apostles are brought down by the gravity of nature which is afflicted, and which keeps them slumped in a kind of drowsiness.
They represent to me the cowardly, lukewarm pastors, and Overwhelmed by the love and affection they have for themselves. themselves. They fall asleep cowardly, and lose sight of the care and vigilance they must have for their flocks. Do you see the example I give them by going to awaken my apostles, who are asleep only from a natural sleep, and by disability; See yourselves as I watch over them, and as by The love I have for them I forget all my fatigues and all my pain, and this in the very midst of my sweat of blood, which puts me in weakness and languor, and puts me in
reduced almost to The agony? However, without regard for my saint. Humanity, my charity carries me and makes me act for go to them.
How Grace works in a soul. The first coup de la grace Who awakens souls is stronger than the second.
But notice here one thing, Our Lord tells me, and learn what giving is Grace. The first time I went I frightened them up. I took them back a little in the rigor of my
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» charity, especially the one I had chosen to be the head of my church; I covered him with confusion, as well as the other apostles, and I said to him, What! Peter, are you sleeping? not Can you keep an hour of watch with me? At the same time, by my word I made him hear in his interior: What! Peter, don't you know that the devil seeks to devour you? and to screen yourself as one screens wheat? I tell you Have already warned. But what! you sleep! I will tell you Warned again: watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation and in Satan's traps. Don't be fooled by yourself. I warn you again. The spirit is prompt, and nature is crippled and weak. Our Lord Me says he says the same to the other apostles. "You see? currently, continues Our Lord, how grace works, by the example I give you of my apostles who fall asleep instead of watching and praying? When I wake up the sentinels of Israel, who sleep spiritually by The drowsiness of their souls, my grace does not lack come to wake them up, to make them hear that the enemies pursue them, and make them see the dangers where they are, the perils that threaten them, and how they must watch over their flocks, for which they must answer; Finally This grace frightens and inspires fear: it resumes, it thunders, and then she withdraws to see if the pastors will benefit from its opinions. If they go back to sleep, she comes wake up only, and introduce themselves to their minds and to their hearts, and in the moment it is withdraws, without making any further impression on them. »
According to this example, Here again is what Our Lord said to me: "Believe, my child, that the first blow of grace that I give to A soul for his conversion, has impressions and movements much stronger than the second shot. When this soul does not take advantage of the first warning and that it unfortunately falls back into its vices ordinary, grace cools towards him, She simply introduces herself to herself, awakens her spirit, makes him see the faults in which he is still Fallen; And then, without giving fear or fear, she withdraw, and this is the conduct I have held with my apostles. The second time I come to them, I don't tell them a single one. word. I only showed myself to them and the I woke up, and I promptly returned to my prayer. »
Third prayer of J. C. Immensity of his pain caused on the one hand by the greatness of God's offense, and on the one hand by the greatness of God's offense, and on the one hand by the greatness of God's offense, and on the one hand by the greatness the other, by the small number of sinners who will benefit from my death.
Our Lord said to me, " I prostrated myself for the third time before majesty of God my father, and asked him for grace and mercy for all mankind, saying to him: Holy Father, Father righteous, adorable Father, since your love wants to save all the Humankind, I want it too. May your holy will be Made; I want everything you want, because Your Saint Will is mine, and that we are one. » Here is what Our Lord added: "It was the time here on more painful for my soul. From all sides fell upon her an impetuous torrent, caused both by my love and by the righteousness of God my father. I found myself engulfed by all sides, without finding a moment of consolation. I saw the righteousness of God my father, angered against all crimes of the human race, which demanded revenge and satisfaction. The offense of God who had ascended to the throne of my father's supreme majesty, made me trembling and shuddering from every part of My Saint humanity; and my heart, through so many pain and anguish, penetrated what it was that the offense of an infinite God" in all his saints Perfections. »
Neither Neither men nor angels will ever understand what it is that the offense of God. Only J. C. understood this.
This divine Saviour, in me Casting a very sad look, said to me, "Do you know, my child, do you know what God's offense is? No, you do not know it not, and you'll never know. The highest seraphim do not will not know, and will never be able to understand how far extends the horrific crime of
the offense of God. For understand this crime and to know it, it would be necessary to understand and know God himself; which is impossible, and what will be forever created to all being created. There is only God who knows himself, and who knows himself. includes in all its attributes and in all its divine perfections.
For me, my As a child, I know what the offense of God is; it penetrates my heart, and it seems that the pain splits it in two parts, to the sight on one side of the outrage done to God my father, and on the other, of the awful situation of sinners, of whom there will be so few who will enjoy my redemption, of my graces and of all my sufferings, and of this awful multitude of reprobates who will be for Never, for being not only unfaithful to my grace, but again for despising him by violating my commandments and precepts, and who will make more criminal, by the very fact that they will render useless all graces and
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» All merits which I acquired to them by my passion and by my death. That's what which makes me say again:
Desires ardent of the heart of Jesus who wills and asks his Father the salvation of all men.
O righteous Father! Is it necessary to suffer so much and uselessly for so many souls! oh Lovely Dad! My love wants them all, but they don't. don't want to; My love calls them all, but they are deaf ear, and do not respond to the tenderness of my heart and my love that runs after them, presses them, asks them to come to me and save themselves; but they flee from me, turn their backs on me and despise me. O Father, full of mercies! I am God like you; see to what state their crimes have reduced me; See my pain! I am a man like them, and I have compassion on them. I am the leader of mankind, and I feel in my heart all the pains and all the misfortunes of all my limbs. »
Bright J. C. pains His sweat of blood, his agony.
Our Lord continued thus: As the pains pressed me on all sides with a Great violence, my sweat of blood began again by crises almost at all times. My holy humanity fell into weaknesses, failures and languor Deadly; my whole body shuddered; It seemed to me that my Holy Humanity was about to fail; and so much pain would have led me to death, if my hour had been arrival. I was the only one to support all my Fighting; I was fighting myself against myself, by the love I had for all sinners, but in special to all penitent sinners and all my elected officials. I was then prostrate, my very Holy face down, and bathed in my sweat of blood. My The body was weighed down by weakness and failure. My love wanted to make me suffer a harsh agony in which I could not lift myself from above the earth, nor move my limbs, nor could I move my limbs, or even raise my head, whose impression you see, as if I had just risen from my prayer. »
In his agony, J. C. has recourse to his Father.
Then this divine Savior tells me says, "When I saw myself at the last extremities of my agony, a livid pallor spread over all my members, My heart throbbing with pain and love, my breathing interspersed which grew and weakened by At intervals, I had recourse to my Father, and said to him: My Father, have mercy on me; see if it is pain similar to mine. I want everything you want, O My father! But see the excess of my pain. I am submerged in a sea of afflictions and anguish. See my blood that is soon all spilled on my clothes And on earth: my strength has surrendered my whole body is in a failure that seems to reduce me to Death. »
Sound Father sends angels to comfort him. Lesson for those who suffer.
Our Lord Turning to me, said to me: "It is here that I give a great example of the need to have recourse to God in the most Great afflictions and tribulations of life, and even in the anguish of death, and to ask him for help. The one who will have recourse to prayer, will be consoled, as I was myself from my divine Father. As soon as I had made my prayer, he came down from heaven, by the command of my Father, Several angels who came to console me in the excess of my affliction. These angels lifted me up from above the earth, where I was as if stuck by my blood which was frozen. They took me in their arms, and made me rest. on their breasts. My members,
all cold and stiff, began to regain some movement, and my Forces gradually returned. I then live around me several beneficent angels, whom my Father had sent me to comfort me in my affliction, and these angels said to me,
Speech angels to J. C.
"O Lord, King of heaven and earth! we are sent by your Father to console you, my God, who are the consolation of all the afflicted, the joy and bliss of all paradise, of all your angels, and soon of all your Predestined. See, O Lord, son of the Father eternal, what glory you give to your Father ! He is satisfied, his heart is happy. You are today this sweet lamb of God, who blot out all sins of the world.
Yes you have satisfied the offense of God; you have satisfied in God and as God, and satisfied with God. Yes, your Father is happy, because it took nothing less than the blood of a God to satisfy his justice. Yes, your Father is satisfied, divine lamb of God, divine lamb so pure, so holy and so holy innocent! your Father is satisfied, but your love is not satisfied Not: He wants, this divine love, to win victory over all his Enemies. He wants, this mighty conqueror and this armed fort, strip the death of his empire, and conquer you I do not know how many millions and billions of souls Blessed, who would have fallen prey to hell, who will benefit from your merits, and who, faithful to Your graces will follow in your footsteps.
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"Consider, O my king! what triumph will your holy passion produce, and What glory will win this beautiful triumph of your love! There you go the cross and chalice which the Eternal Father sends to you; This is the present He is giving you today. But, divine Lamb, she will be, this Holy Cross, after you have expired on her, she will be and become the subject of the worship of all Christians. O divine lamb of God! I I am obliged to say to you, on behalf of God your Father, that you are doomed to die, and to Dying on a cross.
These are not Your enemies who condemn you are the sins of all men, whose love your love has made you surety. The Father eternal
judged you and condemned to death, and your love condemns you to it: it ask of you, O sovereign and adorable God, to whom All creatures owe honor, praise, worship and obedience! Your heart is ready, O divine Jesus, your heart is ready to obey, not only to the will of your Father and to your love, but also to the persecutors of justice, and to the executioners who will tie you with nails to the cross. »
J. C. after his agony, regains his strength and beauty. There seems to be no trace of his sweat of blood.
So here's what the Lord said to me, "When my strength began to Returning, and having regained new vigour, I began to knees, and letting go by leaning a little on the angel who makes me Sustained, my sweat of blood ceased, and the pores were Tightened, my blood flowed according to the ordinary course of the nature. This good angel, with a white cloth, wiped my holy face, my hands and my clothes, so that I regained my first beauty natural, my strength and vigor. At the same time my clothes took on the same colour as they had before, so that Neither my head, nor my limbs, nor my clothes held any stain of my precious blood.
The agony of J. C. and the forces he regains afterwards. Sound effect Immense love for men.
» My love for Suffering more for men had deprived me of all my natural forces, and reduced as if to nothingness by the end of a sad agony, that my holy humanity had suffered. The speech that the angels gave me on this same Love taught me nothing new. I have known this from all eternity; I have seen and known all things in my Father in His decrees Eternal; but my heart had much satisfaction at hearing about the divine love and opprobrium of my saint passion, and even more than on the Thabor in my transfiguration. Moses and Elijah, who came to visit me to honored me more, spoke to me of nothing but different torments of my passion. Likewise my angels, By their speeches, I was represented with the image of my passion, and the glory that my Father would receive from it. This zeal of the glory of my Father, which comes from the love I have for him Gate of all eternity, is like a consuming fire which is in my heart, and which will never end. The same Love restored all my human strength to me; and after I so to speak, he gave me everything back, and gave me back in possession of my sovereign power. My heart was everything ignited by this
devouring fire and sacred. It was no longer before me that suffering, humiliation, opprobrium, whipping, crown of thorns, nails, finally the cross and death. One deer heated and burned with thirst, do not run not so strong at the fountains, as my heart altered from the desire to satisfy the glory of God my Father and to the salvation of souls ran to the death of the cross.
With what strength J. C. rises to go to torments and Death. His thirst caused by the love of the salvation of souls.
Hosted by This new flame of my love, I arose instead of my prayer, like a lion that rises to run and devour its prey. My heart, during my passion, drank long. features of that bitter chalice that my Father had given me. I drank according to the alteration of my thirst, which led me to drink to the dregs; and again on the cross, my love compelled me to say that he was still thirsty. »
The way to quench J. C.'s thirst in his thirst is the contrition of the heart and penance.
Our Lord, by turning to me, said to me: "My child, it is you, with everything the human race, who can satisfy this all-consuming thirst: It is true that so much suffering endured my sacred body were able to give me a great natural thirst; but the desire I had within myself by the ardent love for the salvation of souls and the glory of God my Father, was causing me another thirst and a much crueler torment. It's You, dear souls, who cost me so much!... Ah! all my sorrows I will forget, if you satisfy my thirst, giving me water with a contrite and humiliated heart for God's sake for offending me so much. This is it everything I ask to quench my thirst from the fire (1) which always causes my thirst. What my passion lacks is
(1) Unusual expression, abuse of words, bold thought, which is in the style of Scripture, and that one would necessarily have weakened by trying to put it another way. Moreover, the reader must remember (and he has noticed so far) that it is the style of the Sister that We give, not ours.
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» to be quenched from this spiritual thirst, which is the Eternal salvation of your souls
: it is true that I have everything fulfilled in my mortal life by my suffering and death; that who made me say on the cross: All is consumed. Yes, without doubt, everything is done on my side, everything is accomplished, all is consumed for the glory of God my Father and for your salvation; But on your side not everything is In fact, not everything is accomplished, and not everything is consumed. He you must cooperate with my grace; than in union of Merits of my holy passion you walked in my footsteps; that You carried my cross every day of your life for my love and for my glory, in penance for your sins and those of sinners. »
J. C. ready to suffer again, for one soul, all the torments of his passion, if it were necessary.
Our Lord said to me, " I have all this so much at heart for the glory of my Father, and for the salvation of souls that, if it were necessary to suffer again for one soul all that I have suffered, and that my Father I would allow it, I would suffer it with all my heart for the sake of it. make blessed throughout eternity. »
§. II.
Resurrection of J. C. and its circumstances. Wonders that took place at the tomb of J. C. at the moment when his soul is reunited to his glorious body. Impossibility to explain and even understand God's excessive love for Men.
Our Lord appears to the sister and teaches her to What an hour he is risen.
I report here the triumph of the resurrection of Our Lord J. C., according to what he has given me made known. The night of Holy Saturday, before the Sunday of Easter, at one o'clock after midnight, I woke up. Being in my bed, wide awake, I heard strike an hour at the big clock; in the moment Our Lord appeared to me and said, "My child, this is the case. the hour when I rose again and emerged triumphant and Glorious of the tomb: come that I you
take part in My resurrection. I have afflicted you by making you to know the agony of my passion at the Jardin des Olives: it is Why, my child, I want to rejoice and make you To know something of my triumphant resurrection. »
The Sister is transported to the tomb of J. C. She sees the reunion of all righteous souls who have come out of the Limbo, and several troops of angels.
In the moment I was transported to the garden where Our Lord had been put in the tomb. Our Lord said to me, "This is the the place from which I emerged triumphant over death; my soul Glorious brought with her from limbo the troop of the righteous blesseds of the Old Testament. When I arrived at the tomb, I told them I showed everyone my damn dead and deprived body of Life, covered with wounds and all weighed down by bruises of the blows I had received. In that moment, the air was Shining with clarity by the troops of the descending angels as fast as lightning, and which melted in the garden to honor my triumph. »
Of these angels there were part of each of the nine choirs; they lined up in beautiful order around the sepulchre, where they did not form than a choir, of which the archangel St. Michael was the conductor. The patriarchs made the second chorus. The prophets, the martyrs, and all those who had suffered most for J. C. were arranged with the chorus of patriarchs: the rest Des Justes composed the third chorus; They were arranged in very nice order in the garden, around the Holy Sepulchre.
Resurrection of several holy patriarchs.
Several bodies of the elders patriarchs, like those of the prophets and many others, resurrected with Our Lord, and in the blink of an eye their souls were reunited to their glorious bodies; and there was no living man at the resurrection, that those who were beatified, and who, by the merits of Our Lord, were in condition and worthy to enjoy his triumphant glory.
Songs of joy of angels and saints at the time of the resurrection of J. C.
After any This troop would have seen his sacred body, in a moment, in the Presence of angels and saints, this beautiful soul reunited to his sacred body, and Our Lord appeared in the midst of this beautiful assembly, as it is in Heaven, filled with glory and in the brilliance of so high Your Majesty, that the
splendor resounded on all sides. The first choir of the holy angels sang the Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the other two choirs answered in turn, and all together, with a concert of melodious music, which resembled that of Paradise. I knew that they were singing: Here is truly the day which the Lord has made; Let's rejoice ! that heaven and earth tremble with joy and gladness, because J. C. is truly risen, and he will no longer be subject to death. That honor, glory, power, homage and adoration be forever rendered to the Lamb of God, who suffered death for the redemption of the mankind!.....
At moment when J. C. is resurrected he is adored by all the angels, by all the saints, and by Mary, his divine mother.
Our Lord tells me that at the moment when he appeared in body and soul truly resurrected, and in all his glory, the whole assembly, With the angels who had remained in heaven, prostrate, worshipped him in spirit and truth, and recognized it as
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true God and true man, as the king of heaven and earth, as the redeemer of human, and as the sovereign judges the living and the dead. Then he added: "My divine Mother, who from the upper room, By my clarity, saw all that was happening, prostrated himself all the first with all the spirits of angels and saints, to worship me and to set an example for all spirits blessed and to all mankind. »
During these songs of joy and this magnificent triumph, the Most Holy and most adorable Trinity, ever indivisible unity, appeared in the midst of triumph, with the same glory and the same Majesty which shows itself in the sky, and she made herself see at all angels and to all saints. Behold, according to what I have known in the light of God, what the Eternal Father said to his beloved Son, "You are my Son; I have begotten you from all eternity in the splendor of my glory. Today I beget you true God and true man, immortal and unchanging king, and God as I do: I tell you beget God and man, who suffered death in your holy humanity. There you are
Victor of death and all your enemies, and here you really are Resurrected in your glory. You are my Son, my Word, and my beloved Son in whom I have put all my Complacency and my eternal bliss. All Power, all authority is given to you, both in heaven than on earth, and to the depths of the abyss. »
Beginning of the triumphant Church, and the fullness of new graces poured out on the Church Militant.
Then Our Lord Me made it known that the triumphant Church began to His resurrection, because, being resurrected, He made the glorious beatitude of all the blessed who were Present. Here is yet another wonder, it was the sight of the new Church Militant, filled with graces, sacraments and infinite merits, which were the passion fruit and
from the death of Our Lord and His holy resurrection. All these adorable mysteries were shown to me in God by the Beatific view, that the whole assembly of the new Triumphant Church had had by the vision of the very holy and most adorable Trinity in its glory.
Vision of the whole Church Militant in general, and then in particular, from the whole troop of elected officials to the end of the world.
These souls blessed still saw in God the whole Church militant gathered before them, and knew the predestined and the reprobate, all those who make good use of graces and the merits of Our Lord, and all who would abuse. But above all of what joy and gladness These glorious souls were not filled when it was to them. represented the troupe of the predestined, composed of so many pontiffs, apostles, generous martyrs, confessors, anchorites and virgins, not to mention an infinite number of Christian faithful of all states and all the ages, and of so many penitent saints who have whitened under the yoke of penance, imitating the example of their adorable Savior! It seemed to them to see these generous fighters advance in troops to unite with them, and to pass from the Church Militant to the Church of Triumph; that which makes in God only one true Church. Then full of a transport of joy at the sight of merits of Our Lord, they all began to sing this hymn: O happy sin that has earned us a such a Redeemer!
The Eternal Father gives His blessing to all elected officials.
At this moment the voice of the Eternal Father is heard by the whole assembly, He gives blessing to all who composed the triumphant Church, and at the same time it blessed all the blessed he saw in his decrees eternal, having to do penance, corresponding to the graces of the redemption of his Son, and imitate his example. "Yes," he said, "I bless them in time, and in eternity. I will bring them into my kingdom by the merits of the passion and death of my Son: I will receive them into my kingdom in the name of my Son and through my Son. »
Reflections of the Sister on the love of J. C. to which we must respond through love.
It is you, O Word incarnate, true God and true man, who, by your death and Passion, have opened to them the door of heaven, closed since four thousand years. It is you who are their way and their life, and who lead them to the truth; finally you are their salvation. Your love for your people has triumphed and won a glorious victory; But this divine love (1) wants as a reward for love, he wants to be loved; he will be salvation only of those who love it. It is for them that this Divine Love has won so many victories; which he has, by his works and by his triumph, crushed death for all. I Say for all, because this divine love wants everyone to saves, and that everyone loves him. This is where they will live forever. What is called death is death eternal: the death of the body is counted for nothing; It is only a little dust that will resurrect at the last day; But what is called true death is eternal death. It's
(1) It has already been noted several times, and we will notice again, especially in these reflections of the Sister of the Nativity, that she personifies love of J. C. for men, according to what St. John says, ep. 1, ch. 4, v. 8: Quoniam Deus charitas est; because God is love. Hence these expressions of the Sister: Love wants to be loved; love love, etc., etc.
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that one that love A terrasse for all souls who want it to correspond and love Him with all their heart with all their soul, with all their mind and strength.
Our Love for J. C. must be constant and boundless. He must be free and of our choice.
He wants no bounds to our love for Him. Divine love is infinite, and will burn always eternally, without ever being consumed. Also this Divine Love wants all who will love Him and do good For his love, persevere unto death. He who dies out of love, will die in death. Divine love, by his triumph, not only struck down death, but Yet he closed the gates of hell to us, and we
opened those of its kingdom. It is love that is the key to the kingdom of heaven; one will only open to the one who loves and who has done good Works for his love.
This divine love that has given us so much loved, and who still loves us with an infinite love, which has willing, by his frank will and by his own will, Descend from heaven and embrace all kinds of crosses, suffering and humiliation, and finally death, without being there obliged only by his too great goodness and by his too much Great love, wants those who love him, love him by their frankness arbitrator and their goodwill. He made a command of To love him: he showed us the way to heaven, which consists in Follow his example and to keep His divine commandments. He even obliges himself, This divine love, to provide graces more than sufficient to make our salvation; but he will save only those who want to save himself, he will not force the frank arbiter.
After Having shown us the way, it is up to us to follow it or not to follow him: our fate is in our hands. If we want to surrender ourselves again to eternal death, Reopen the hell He had closed to us, and renounce the Kingdom that this divine love had prepared for us, we are Free. If you are damned, it is you who Do you want to damn for not wanting to make a good choice. You Have better liked to follow your lusts and inclinations out of whack, and you love yourself in your own nature corrupted by your passions; That's why This divine love will tell you:
« I know you not; You are not one of those who love me; You lost yourself, and you wanted to. »
Vision of the countless number of reprobates. The Father Eternal curses them.
The Eternal Father, by a new light, showed the new Church Triumphant composed of the elect, and bliss Blesseds in eternity. He showed at the same time Time the disapproval of the unfortunate in hell, including the Number was so frightful, that if these souls blessed had been capable of trouble and of sorrow, their joy and triumph would have been Altered. But no: everything contributes to the glory of the Lord. If it is not in his love, it will be in his righteousness that we will glorify him despite stubbornness of the will of the ungodly always rebellious to God.
The Eternal Father, after having as exposed to knowledge and the sight of the blessed the formidable number of the reprobate, said in their presence, "For thee, ungodly, I curse thee, I have cursed thee in My eternal decrees, and in which I have known from all eternity your malice and your black perfidies, and how thou shalt play with me; but my power and my righteousness will play with you forever. »
The Eternal Father is his son king of the universe and sovereign judge of the living and the dead.
Then the Father Eternal speaking to his Son, said to him: "You are King, and the King of glory; I establish you on Sovereign judge of the living and the dead.
You be the glory and bliss of those who love you; but for your enemies you shall rule them with the rod of iron, and you will crush them under your feet. Your power will triumph of them, and will confound them in the abyss. »
God sees everything as a point of all eternity and in all eternity.
I make known here what I live in God. On the day of the general judgment, when Our Lord will say to His elect, Come, the blessed of my Father, to possess the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world; and that he will say likewise to the wicked: "Withdraw from me, damned ones, go to the fire Eternal who was prepared for the demon and for those of his party; I know in God that Our Lord will speak thus, because from all eternity and in all eternity all that God has created, like everything it will create, the past, the present and the future are always present to him as a point.
Manner whose Sister lives all the mysteries she comes from report.
When I report here all that I have seen in God in the adorable mystery of the Resurrection, do not think that I have seen in this mystery, nor in all other mysteries, distinctly and to the manner of the blessed. Alas! I am very scared and I am very afraid that I will never be worthy of it. Like what when I said that the Most Holy Trinity was at the Holy Sepulchre, in the midst of the blessed, and may she showed in his glory and as it was in heaven, eh Ok! I saw only a globe of light that surrounded the three divine persons, and I saw none of the three lovely people. I confess that no living man is capable of nor enough
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pure to never see God as he is in his glory; he is not even able to see one blessed in the glory of the Lord. I confess that if It was happening, it would be by a great miracle. I believe that God works miracles when it pleases him; But for me, all that What I can say is that man could never see things so holy and divine without losing their lives. I declare though when it pleased our adorable Savior to make me see something of its divine mysteries, for example from that of his holy resurrection, he spoke to me, and that when He spoke to me, his voice illuminated my whole interior, and formed in my understanding like a painting in shortcut, in which I saw all that this God of goodness wanted to do to me know, and of which he obliged me to put something in writing; which I did out of obedience.
That that she writes is far below what she has seen in God. It is impossible to explain it.
What I have written is far below and does not approach what I have seen and known in God. I ask forgiveness from Our Lord for having me so poorly explained, and not being able to say or develop this that I saw or what I saw. Our Lord made me known that it was not in my power, and that it should not be even trying to explain clearly what he was doing to me see in his divinity; that it would be to tempt God.
Love Divine above all is inexplicable. The blessed in heaven do not will never fully understand.
For example, Our Lord made me see in the mystery of his death and passion a Small sample of the triumph of his love. I didn't know if the Lord would compel me to put something of it in writing, and I knew in his light that he did not ask of me. « How, my child,
he said, could you do write such holy things, and explain the little I tell you Have you seen? Do you know that the triumph of divine love is the work of God himself? The blessed in heaven will be occupied for all eternity at To contemplate, see, admire and love this beautiful triumph of my love, this Beautiful triumph of my love in all the mysteries of my life, of my death and passion, and in all that I have operated in my Church by my grace and by the Sacraments; but in particular this beautiful triumph of my love which by My grace enters hearts with gentle violence, and which attracts them to me without hindering their own freedom.
How could you explain all this which is the effect of an immense love, which does not live How many victories and triumphs, and to whom death itself could not resist? All the blessed in heaven will be all eternity delighted in love, without being able to understand perfectly. Here Our Lord added: " The silence of a heart that loves and adores this divine love, makes More homage to His Majesty than words, knowledge and explanation. »
Our Risen Lord Comes Out of the Garden with the Troop of the Righteous and angels, and go to visit his Blessed Mother.
Before Our Lord came out of the garden with all this blessed troop, all The congregation sang a hymn of thanksgiving at the Lord. This triumph lasted about an hour; so that I knew that it was about two o'clock, when this Beautiful assembly disappeared from the garden. At the time of the resurrection of Our Lord the dawn appeared, and when Our Lord came out of the garden, it had been a few minutes since the sun was lifted. He had advanced his race to be witness of what happened at the resurrection of the Savior.
The first visit which Our glorious Lord did when he came out of the garden, was in the upper room, where he went faster than thought, to visit the august and divine Mary, the Blessed Virgin, his mother. He visited in true God and true man and immortal. The joy that Our Lord gave him of his triumphant
Resurrection, Fut commensurate with the great pain she had suffered in the foot of the cross. During the forty days that Our Lord spent On earth, most of the time he was with her in body and in soul. It was not necessary for this that the Blessed Virgin was always alone and without company, because Our Lord made Himself invisible, and also made invisible to the Blessed Virgin the whole assembly of angels and blesseds, who followed him everywhere.
Appearance from J. C. to his apostles.
He did not surrender. invisible to the apostles. He made several appearances to them, such as said the Gospel, in which he made himself seen to them in a humane way, suspending the brilliance of its Majesty, making known to them His holy humanity, conversing familiarly with them, assuring them, in truth, that he was truly risen, telling them that they had no fear, that he was clothed of his sacred body, flesh and bones, and proving to them as he was truly resurrected. Our Lord made all these visits to them to plant and root in them the faith, which in some was still very weak.
The Holy women go to the sepulchre. Angels kidnap stone. Fear of the guards. Angels announce to holy women that J. C. is risen.
When this illustrious Assembly came out of the garden, the women who went to the sepulchre, and who proposed to embalm the holy body of our divine Saviour, would soon arrive. God sent Angels for their
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Announce this great and beautiful news of the resurrection of our adorable Savior. He allowed one of his angels to appear visibly to the guards for frighten and terrify them. At the same time these guards heard a loud noise coming from the stone, that the angels rolled out of the entrance to the tomb. To this Noise was joined by an earthquake, which was so great,
particularly in the garden and in Jerusalem, which no man could have stand. The guards were overthrown as half-dead. As soon as they had recovered a little from their fright, they fled from the garden, and the holy women arrived. That was there that the angels said to them: For you, fear not. nothing, and don't be afraid, because we know you're looking for Jesus of Nazareth; but he is no longer here, he is resurrected as he had said; go tell Peter and the others apostles, and assure them that they will see him in Galilee, as he had promised them.
§. III.
Practice taught to the Sister of the Nativity by Our Lord, and drawn from his Passion, to contribute much to the relief of souls in purgatory.
Our Lord made me know how souls should be relieved from Purgatory" It is through short prayers and even by aspirations made to his heart, to the intention and in honor of the merits of his holy death and passion. God makes me know only one aspiration made with love and care in honor of the five mysteries painful, taking from time to time a mystery to every aspiration, and offering all that Our Lord has suffered and endured and all its merits, for the relief of souls in Purgatory, or one in particular, was of infinite merit to obtain their promptness issue.
At what occasion Our Lord teaches this practice at the Sister.
Here's which God gave me the knowledge of this devotion.
A former nun Died. The one who was to occupy her cell after her, had Afraid of the deceased, and begged me to go and sleep there for a month. One night I got up at midnight, with the permission of my confessor and my Superior, and put me in prayer, turned towards the Blessed Sacrament, uniting my heart and of spirit with the nuns who were then at recite matins. Ordinarily on the nights that Our Lord had marked me for praying, especially at night from Thursday to Friday, it was customary to warn me to get up; and I stood up in prayer until the moment when
Our Lord made me knowing that I had to go back to bed. It was in one of these the night that Our Lord taught me this devotion, drawn of his holy passion, on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, and Here's how it happened:
One Deceased nun appears to him and asks him to pray for her.
After receiving from Our Lord permission to go and resume my rest, I I rose from my prayer, and I turned to the side of the bed to sleep in. I saw from the eyes of body and soul the deceased with her figure, as in her lifetime, and in her night clothes, who always stood in front of me to prevent me from getting into bed, reproaching me that since I was up, I had not prayed for her. I circled around the bed to lie down; it is was always in front of me to prevent me from getting in.
When I experience this, I I addressed myself to Our Lord, and said to him, Lord, Allow me to stay for some time in prayer for this deceased, before going to bed. No, Our Lord, I want you to go to bed. As she always before me, Our Lord said to me: " Touch it with your hand. She always had her back turned to me. I stretched out my hand with great fright, but with faith, and putting all my trust in God, whose presence seemed sensitive to me, without me screwing it in any way. I couldn't see than the deceased. When I thought I put my hand on his back and the touch, I touched nothing at all, and as fast as the thought Here she is next to me, who gives me the place. I went to bed promptly, and when I was in bed, at the favor of a beautiful moonlight, which gave into the cell, and which made a clarity almost similar to that of the Day, I saw her turn all around our bed, and make efforts to climb it. It was in this moment that Our Lord taught me this short prayer for the souls of the Purgatory I just mentioned. This God of goodness said to me: "Offer to my Eternal Father for this soul, all that I have suffered and endured in mystery painful of my prayer in the Garden of Olives and offer it by Love and in union with the love with which I suffered it. » I fell asleep saying this prayer, and when I woke up. It was daylight.
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§. IV.
Strong reluctance of the Sister of the Nativity to do write extraordinary things. Warning that she receives in this regard from Our Lord and from there Most Holy Virgin.
Obedience of the Sister, despite her reluctance to do To write.
My father, I make known the repugnance more than natural that I have, and have always had, to write down the extraordinary secrets that God has entrusted to me, and that I carry in the secret of my conscience. Despite the pain I feel to make write, I have always, by grace of God, without whom I can do nothing, causes all the once my divine Savior and my confessors have commanded me; though repugnance and sorrow are joined A temptation of the devil, which always leads me not to point to write, by the reason that this writing will be the cause of my loss.
She prides herself on the hope of no longer being obliged to have people write. God's will opposes this. Reproaches made to him by the Blessed Virgin.
Since I started writing, it pleases my divine Saviour to give me much interval time, even several years in a row, in so that I thought several times that it was over, and that the good Lord no longer required me to write; What I know consoled many. In the present time, where I do Writing, it's only been four to five days that I I thought more than ever I would not do it again; which consoled me greatly, seeing myself delivered from my sentence and several other penalties that come from there.
But alas! What is the use of man proposing? This God of Goodness disposes according to the decrees of his holy will, and as he pleases.
Here's what happened to me these days past, touching God's will on this who looks at Scripture. God made me know more that it was never his good pleasure and holy will, that I still had written. In this regard, the saint Virgin told me that she would have wanted me to have written some peculiarities that she had made known to me on its mysteries, mainly
on that of his glorious Assumption; and making me like a sweet reproach: How, my Daughter; she said, you made no mention of me in your Written! You haven't had anything written on several different things that I have made known to you, me, who took you under my protection from your childhood, and who have so many times diverted the hard fighting and the temptations that the demons wanted to arouse against you! You shall know only in the other world, my daughter, the special care which I have had of you, and the graces of protection I have obtained for you from my divine Son.
I was appalled at shame and confusion in the presence of the Blessed Virgin. I asked Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin for forgiveness of all the ingratitudes and infidelities I had committed throughout my life, and little recognition that I had had the love and tenderness of such a good mother. I promised to be more faithful; I devoted myself to she that she might do with me as she pleased; and I begged, in spite of my unworthiness, not to to abandon me, and to pray to his dearest Son for me, in order to May he forgive me all my sins. I promised him that I would be obedient to him until the last breath of my life, and that I would have written about what concerns her, and about this that I would know would be the most advantageous to the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Appearance of Our Lord who reproaches the Sister on the same topic.
On the same day as the saint appeared to me, several hours after Our Lord appeared to me for the same subject. He let me know that there are had several things in my interior that were came from him and that I hid, under the pretext that they were not necessary. He points to me, Article by article, the different subjects it wanted me to put in writing, as well as the graces and many favors which his Blessed Mother had bestowed upon me, and he told me that he had entrusted me to his protection.
She promises all obedience to Our Lord in Him humbly representing his repugnance. Answer of Our Lord. His repugnance is a great grace.
I promise Our Lord all submission and obedience, by representing Him, With great confusion and deep humility, the sorrows and the reluctance I had to have written. This is what Our Lord tells me: "Do you know, My child, that this repugnance is a grace that I
have made you, and a grace special I have given you, at prayer of my Most Holy Mother, and who makes you, with my Grace, deserve by your obedience. Without this Pain there, without this grace that accompanies you all The times you make write, the devil, who from The beginning was on the lookout for you to deliver a terrible temptation, excited by the passion of pride and vain glory, would have swelled your heart and mind with vanity, on the occasion of the extraordinary things I have done to you know. He would have given you temptation and a desire extraordinary to write and make known curious things, to which, by the lust which would always have was agitated in you, he would have mixed of his, and would have made you see new things. See, my Poor child, where would you be!
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» what struggles, What alarms, and how many dangerous assaults do you" would not have delivered this spirit of perdition! This pain that I gave you, which is again accompanied by a Some confusion, this aversion to all things that look extraordinary, and the desire you have to be Hidden from the eyes of men, all this preserves you from the unfortunate temptation I have just announced to you. »
The Sister, penetrated with pain, makes a whole self-abandonment to N. S.
I fell more than ever before the Lord, in greater shame, confusion and of pain, of having been so ungrateful in towards God and the Holy Virgin, and for complaining so many times of the pain that I felt like I was writing. I make a complete surrender of myself in the hands of Our Lord, for all that he will want to write despite my repugnance.
ARTICLE VI.
New details and supplement to what the Sister of the Nativity had written in the first volumes on The revolution, its aftermath and progress. Tests
Continuous The ungodly to the end of the world to destroy the faith in J. C. and overthrow his Church.
Intervals peace for the Church, still subsisting despite their efforts. His triumphs, and brilliant conversions among his greatest enemies and among the accomplices of The Antichrist. Some circumstances of the reign of The Antichrist. His downfall. Fate of his accomplices.
§. I.
Death of Louis XVI. His happiness in Heaven.
The Sister knew the death of Louis XVI two years earlier. His prayers to divert her.
Here's what I'm going to report here on the death of our dear and beloved monarch Louis XVI, King of France, and the happiness his soul enjoys in heaven by the grace of God. One day I was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord tells me that the King would be put to death. Me, hearing such a sad News, I most humbly begged Our Lord not to allow this to happen. Since this distressing news, which I knew two years before his death, I kept in my heart A deep secret about such a great misfortune, without telling it to No one. I prayed to God incessantly to turn away that chalice of me and all France; but my prayers were too much weak for God to hear me.
After the death of the King, she knows that he reigns in heaven.
More than two years later There came that fatal and cursed blow, which pierced my heart with a sword of pain and bitterness; but a few days later this sad news, Our Lord appeared to me and said to me: " Rejoice, my daughter! I afflicted you with the death of your King, but I come to console you with this
good news: He is glorious, triumphant, and King in my kingdom; he east
crowned. I told him given a scepter and a court that will be eternal: his Scepter and his crown will never be taken away from him. »
§. II.
Vision and description of a prodigious tree, with four large Roots, a figure of impiety that threatens to oppress the Church. Efforts of the Children of the Church to Kill and uproot that tree.
Vision a large tree with four roots.
This is what the Lord introduced me to the Revolution: The Spirit of the Lord made me see a prodigiously tall tree and very large; He held on to the earth, in which he was Rooted by four roots as big as barrels: Three of these roots appeared on the earth and formed as a tripod, or three struts, to support this large tree; The fourth root was in the heart of the tree, and so deeply into the bowels of the earth with the other three roots, which would have been said that they derived their strength and vigor from diabolical malice of hell, as the spirit of the Lord told me.
That What does the hardness of its bark and branches mean? partly cut. He is tilted on the Church to crush it.
This tree had no leaves nor greenery; its bark resembled metal of a cannon, and was also hard. I was told that this meant that his spirit would always be warlike. This big tree was so high that I could not see the cup (1); he was leaning to one side, so that by its prodigious size it presented as a great road by which one could walk on this tree. There was, under the leaning from this tree, a great and beautiful Church; This tree bent over it as if to crush and destroy it. The spirit of the Lord told me that it would not be so, that he would retain his Church, and that he would sustain it until the end of the centuries; that it could well be oppressed, but that, Despite persecution, it would only become more Flourishing.
(1) The summit.
This tree had the cut branches; but we had left two or three feet
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of branches, so that they were not cut flush with the tree, they were also not all cut from the same manner. Those who were on the top of the inclination were cut flat, which formed the passage on this tree. I have seen many people of piety, and even some of my acquaintances, who went up and down from this tree. I still saw workers around, with picks, axes and several other tools, as in the layout of the uproot and shoot it down.
This is what the Lord said to me: these cut branches figured this war that he had allowed in the interior of the France, as if to to avenge, in his justice, the impious of whom this tree is the image and the representation. I have seen in God that by this war internecine with that of foreign crowns, I do not know how many souls, the most proud and the most cruel in malice, were hurled in the depths of the abyss of hell. That's it, the Lord, how I play with the ungodly; I derive my glory from it by my Justice itself.
Efforts useless of the whole Church in action and prayers for cut down and uproot this tree. He will be shot, but not Uprooted.
I asked Our Lord what these people who went up and down wanted of this tree; he replied: "They go up to arrange and arrange large cables, which are attached to the cup of this tree in order to attract it out of the place where he leans on the Church. Then Our Lord made me know in a clearer way all that looked at this tree, saying to me: "The whole Church is in action to cut down this tree; we would like to uproot it, But I don't want to. The faithful solicit me by their prayers and by their moans that touch me the heart; Their tears will be listened to. I will move forward the time to cut down this tree; But, it is my will, he does not will be cut only at ground level. You see, added the Lord
Like all those poor people is agitated, many of whom are at the foot of the tree with tools to Uproot it? But you see, their efforts are useless, they can't do anything. It is my will that stops them. I know the ferocity and harshness of these evil spirits, which are harder than the bark of this tree where the axe cannot enter; but I will work a miracle by my grace. Without me men can do nothing. »
It was then that I met in God that all this would come to an end. But when? I don't know at all. God will shorten time for prayers of the Holy Church; but I do not yet know if this is near or far.
What are the souls whose prayers and struggles touch the heart of God and lead him to advance the moment when The tree will be cut down.
I saw in God the people whose prayers touched God's heart, and made him like a holy violence, by which this God of Charity, which is only love, allowed itself to be softened. I know especially that it is the good priests who groan and who pray under the yoke of penance, uniting themselves with the Holy martyrs today, who pray in the ardour of charity divine, which is pure and perfect. Prostrate before the throne of God, in union with the Lamb of God who suffered for us, they cry out for mercy for the militant Church.
I still see in God that These workers, with their tools, represent wars made for the good cause, with good intentions, and according to legitimized rules. But God forbids the murder and murder committed out of treason or animosity, well, any kind of brigandage. These excesses, instead of to advance our deliverance, delay it.
I still see in God the peoples of the Holy Church, who are still in grace, to move, and in great silence to act and fight with spiritual weapons, to cut down the tree by their prayers, which are represented by those cables with which they pull the tree from its inclination, so that it does not further oppress the Holy Church. I see in God as a holy militia, which acts in two ways, but in the same agreement. From a On the side, priests, men and women religious, and all the people of God, who fight with arms spiritual, and who have united at the same time with the armies of God's people, who, on the other hand, fight for the good cause. I still see in God that they have to fight all together of the good fight of faith, but of a lively and animated faith, who doesn't lose
Point courage, which has Always the weapons of hope in their hands, and the J. C.'s charity in the heart, for whose sake she fight.
He We must be patient and work with courage, until that the hour of the Lord has arrived.
Let's be patient during a long period of time. If the Lord Delays in Coming To our aid, let us submit to His holy and adorable will, and let's very much hope that sooner or later he will come. Yes, he will come, I repeat: let us wait for the Lord, not in idleness but in working and fighting for his love. Although we do not can we do nothing without Him being with us, and we May we hope for success only when its time is When he arrived, he did not want cowardly servants, who lose courage, and whose idleness would be capable of
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delay his work instead than to move it forward. Let us console ourselves once again; When the time of Lord will have arrived, as He promised He would make this beautiful Miracle, everything will be fine.
§. III.
After A long enough time, the tree is finally felled. Triumph and Peace of the Church for a while. Converting multiple its persecutors. Faith extends into many Lands.
In for a moment God will cut down the great tree. Joy of the Church, which will extend to several countries.
I see in God that he There will come a time when this great tree, which we now see so wrong in malice and corruption, and which produces only fruit poisoned and plagued, will be slaughtered. When the hour of the Lord will be
When he came, he will stop in a moment this strong armed with Satan, and will overthrow this great tree on the ground, faster than little David overthrew the big one giant Goliath. Then we will cry out: Let us rejoice, Workers of iniquity are defeated by the strength of the arm Almighty of the Lord. I see in God that our mother Holy Church will extend into several kingdoms, even in places where it has been centuries since no longer existed. It will produce fruit in abundance, as if to avenge the outrages she has suffered by the oppression of the impiety and persecution of its Enemies.
Belongings and causes of the persecutions of the ungodly against the Church.
I see in God how the persecution has spread far and wide, and how, Like a devouring fire, it consumed everything in some places, and caused, by its sparks, many fires in several other countries where It seems that she was not to penetrate. But, that I say? God is admirable! He lets the ungodly act for a time wherever his damned malice guides him, and his very malice the Lord will draw His glory from it. I see in the light of the Lord, that faith and holy religion were almost weakening. in all Christian kingdoms. God allowed them to have received rod blows from the ungodly, to awaken them their drowsiness; and after God has satisfied his justice, he will pour graces in abundance upon his Church; it will extend the faith, and revive the discipline of the Church in all the countries where it had become warm and cowardly.
Fervor children of the Church after their deliverance. Conversion of several persecutors.
I see all the poor peoples, tired of such harsh works and trials that God has sent them, tremble with joy and the joy that God will pour out in their hearts. They will say: Lord, you have poured into our hearts the joy and strength of youth; We no longer feel like any works, neither of the fatigues, nor of the persecutions that we have Endured.
The Church will become, by his faith and love, more fervent and more flourishing than ever. This good mother will see several striking things, even from his persecutors, who will come to throw themselves at her feet, to recognize her, and ask forgiveness from God and her for all the packages and all the outrages they have done to him. This Holy Mother will receive them in the charity of J. C. Yes, this good mother, touched by their promises to be true and sincere penitents of a contrite heart; humiliated and broken with pain,
for the rest of their lives, will receive in his bosom these poor penitents. It does not will look more like her enemies, but she will put them to the number of his children.
Duration of this peace of the Church, which will be accompanied by a some fear. Frequent wars. Changes in Civil laws.
I see in God that the Church will enjoy a profound peace for some time, which I think it should be a little long, the truce will be longer this time, than it will be between now and judgment general, in the intervals of revolutions. The closer we get to the general judgment, the more the revolutions against the Church will be shortened; And the peace that will be made afterwards will also be shorter, because we will advance towards the end of time, where there will be almost no left. of time to be used, either for the right, to do the well, or for the ungodly, to operate evil.
I see in God that the Church will be restored, and I have said that it will enjoy of a rather long peace, but always a little in fear, because that it will see many wars, repeatedly, between several kings and princes of the kingdoms. The truces of these wars will be short, and there will be much turmoil in the Civil laws.
§. IV.
The Four large roots suddenly grow their offspring. Vision of the beautiful Church tree and the four trees out of the roots of the first. New assault on the Church, which in triumph.
So I said above that the tree will be cut down; but as it will not be cut until Flush with the earth, the four roots will grow their malice ordinary, which will be even worse than before. I also said above that the peace of the Church, when it is restored, This time will be a bit of a long duration. With respect to of the four roots, I saw them, about thirty years ago (1), of this way.
(1) Sister A dictated this no later than 1798, the year of his death. The The vision she speaks of took place around the year 1768.
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Vision a beautiful tree that represents the Church, and four large trees coming out of the four roots of the first tree, figure of ungodliness. The Church has them sawed by the foot.
The Spirit of the Lord Me led on a high mountain, where I saw a great tree well stocked with branches, and laden with flowers and fruits of several species, its beautiful greenery, its great vigor, and the varied beauty of its fruits presented to The view at an admirable glance. Fifteen or twenty feet from this Beautiful tree, I saw four jets coming out of the ground vis-à-vis the one from the other, in a square, and distant from each other by four or five feet. In a moment the four of them grew up. Also, by pushing their cups to above this Beautiful tree laden with fruit, and became as big as the thigh, very green, and straight as arrows. Incontinent I heard several people speak, who were in the tree laden with fruit, and who said: Here are wildlings that will offend our tree; They should not be save, because they are bad and their fruits are very bitter. At the very moment it appeared of the workers who sawed them to the ground.
He was made known to me that this great and beautiful tree, so laden with fruit, represented the Church, and that these four jets that I had seen grow, and immediately destroy, were the enemies of the Church, which, after having formed in secret Their plans and conspiracies would hasten to arrive in all diligence to attack our mother the Holy Church, figured by this beautiful tree. I still see in God that the Four roots of this tree are the figure that represents the nation. (1)
(1) The Sister distinguishes here Clearly two things: 1° the four jets out of the four roots, which represent the enemies of the Church or the leaders of the ungodly; 2° the four roots hidden under earth, which designate the multitude, the people (or what they calls the nation, according to the term used in its time), who allows himself to be seduced and deceived by the ungodly. This Note will serve much to the intelligence of all that follows.
Development of the prophetic vision. Covert conspiracies formed against the Church in the underground. The enemies of the Church show up all of a sudden. She rejects them from her womb.
Here's What I See again in the light of God, on the times to come, that is, in the passage of centuries, between now and the general judgment.
The Church will still have much to suffer. The first assault she will have in Support after the one she is currently suffering, will come from the spirit of Satan, which will arouse against it leagues and Assemblies. 1l there will even be some who will hide in underground places to form their diabolical projects. They will even serve devils, the art of magic and enchantments, and all this in their fury and malice, for attack the Church, and to abolish and destroy the religion. They will then appear suddenly, and almost as quickly as I saw the four jets come out of the earth, where They were hidden. They will then show their works, and by this we will recognize their projects and their diabolical malice.
However they will show themselves in a device that will charm curious minds and men of little religion. By their stratagems they will endeavour to insinuate themselves into people's minds, and show everyone that their Ways are straight and reasonable for any human mind. This is Figurated by the four jets I saw, which became four saplings so beautiful, straight, well aligned, and beautiful greenery. They will all have the appearance of succeeding deceive, and they will believe that they are making great progress by their malice. But what can Satan's spirit do against God, when he wills? reverse!. I see in God that their reign, or rather their Project does not
Will not long-lasting. The Holy Ghost, who governs our mother the Holy Church, will make known to her children that they are enchanters and deceitful who want to seduce them. Then the Church will decide by the light of the Holy Spirit, that they are bad trees and wildlings, who do not will produce only bitter fruit, and which must be promptly cut and cut down.
However They have enough time to win their party several persons.
I see here in God that their plans will be swiftly reversed.
But when I say Promptly, it is not that I want to suggest that It will only last a month, only a year. I see in God that This can go on for several more years, and I do not see that the Church is oppressed in her ministers, or in their sacred ministry. But unfortunately there will be Number of people, of both sexes, who will be deceived by their enchantments. They will add so much faith in their false maxims, that they will begin to follow.
§. V.
The ungodly hide again in the underground, and compose pernicious books. Their rapid and hidden progress. Diabolical hypocrisy of their associates. Proud of their Success, they come out of their retreats, and deceive the peoples by their false and apparent virtues.
Astonishment and affliction of the Church, which assembles into a council and finally discover their hypocrisy.
The ungodly retreat again into the underground, and compose works to seduce peoples.
These satellites are will remove and no longer appear in public: but they will nocturnal assemblies, and, like wild beasts, They will retreat to the bottom of the forests. I see in God that Their pernicious maxims will lead them to compose several pamphlets, which they will pass on to those of their wrong party, with whom they will have
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correspondences. There are will have these people everywhere; There will be several in the cities and in the towns; There will be some in the countryside and almost everywhere around where they will be barracked. Those bad people, out of interest, will serve them a lot in their malice, by furnishing them, in these hidden retreats, food and all the necessities. They will bring to their accomplices all that will be suitable for the execution of their projects, and they will bring back all the brochures they will have composed by the spirit of Satan and will be filled all kinds of beautiful devotions, novelties and false stories that they will announce as true. Those Stories will always be criticisms against religion. In addition to brochures that they will circulate in the beginning by the cities and by the countryside, when they see the world in love and Enthusiastic about their beautiful devotions, they will put themselves to compose quantity
of works, which they will do print by their associates, and that they will distribute to people they know to get a taste for it.
Evil what these books do. Hidden progress of seduction.
Oh! that they will do wrong by these damned books, which they will praise by malice to all those who will read them or hear them read! more contagious evil than the plague! All this bad trade will go on for a long time without appearing. outside; Everything will pass in silence, and will be wrapped in An inviolable secret
: like a burning fire dying (1) from below, and which extends without raising His flame, this evil will spread in a great space and in several countries, and it will be all the more dangerous for the Holy Church, whom we will not soon notice by all its fires.
(1) Noiseless, small to small, imperceptibly.
The people seduced, in fear of being discovered by the Church, form an abominable plan between them hypocrisy.
During this scheme, which, as I repeat, will last a long time, they will all they can to hide from the Church. But when Some priests will notice, either in the cities or in the countryside, of some smoke of this accursed fire, they will speak out against the persons in whom they will notice some singularities of devotion, and which will be distinguished in some way from the good customs of the saint Church.
Here is the ruse what will Satan employ, and the cursed instruction that these wretched wretches Let us beware, they will say, to be seen and discovered. But if we come to to notice something and to worry, Let us give ourselves good guard, even at the risk of our lives, to tell what it is about, and to discover our secret to no one. But rather let us make ourselves obedient to ministers, like little children without resistance and without defense. Let us be submissive in appearance; Let us confess of this that it will please us, and let us approach the sacraments in the way that our confessor will judge it expedient. If we are concerned On something that concerns our secret, we must represent it that we are quite ignorant on this point, and to make the unknowns, as if this business were ours absolutely foreign. If he convinces us of something thing, that we have been seen doing, or whatever word we have heard, and on which one could even find Witnesses, we must not debate, but act in peace and gentleness; even admit it if we
are obviously Convinced; To say that we are wrong, that it comes from our ignorance and our lack of education; that we didn't believe hurt; that we submit to the Church and to his ministers, as to God himself, and that we are ready to do all the penances that we will be imposed: by this we will avoid their Prosecution, and they will take good opinion of us. For this, it It will be necessary to show in appearance a great contrition of our faults, and even increase on the penances we are given will have imposed.
I see in God that the satellites of Satan, which, hidden, as I have already Said, in underground and in unknown places, will be the Chiefs of all this evil nation of which I have just spoken, will establish a false law that they will call inviolable: they will instruct and govern as Satan's legislators.
The seducers are finally coming out of their retirement. Great affliction of the Church.
When they see that they have gained a number of disciples almost as great as he It is necessary to populate a kingdom, they will then say to themselves: It is necessary to appear and bring our good intentions to light. So these ravishing wolves will come out of their caves, covered with sheepskin; These will be Real rabid and hungry wolves, ready to devour souls. O that I pity the saint Church! O that she will have to suffer at the hands of his enemies! it will be undertaken and attacked from all sides, by strangers, idolaters, and even by his own children, who, like vipers, tear his bowels, and side with him of her enemies to fight her.
O Holy Mother grieved, more because of the loss of her children than to cause of itself! Yes, despite the ungodly, his wiles and Her diabolical betrayals, this good mother, supported by the Holy Spirit
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will remain in existence until the day of judgment, as I have known it in God, and as I have done writing, out of obedience, in the other volume, there is Several years:
That's why I don't put here than what I think I have not put in the other, and what I have known since in God on this matter.
They are deceived and seduce by their false virtues, and hold hid their cursed doctrine.
I report here how This evil nation will show itself in its approach to the saint Church. One will see, we will hear about the practices of devotion, and austerities of a large number of persons. We will see inhabitants of the cities make great largesse to the poor, and even giving considerable sums money to the Church. That's not all, they will sell to the assets of their patrimony, and this to make known to the public that they strip themselves almost of everything to exercise charity. They will give permission to build hospitals, monasteries, some in a city, and the others in another. They will establish congregations and communities; which will do great harm to the Church, by the appearance of piety and charity they Affect. Several rectors (1), both from the cities and from the campaign, will be their intercessors with the bishops, in order to obtain all the necessary permissions to do their devotional establishments.
Several priests will applaud their zeal: even bishops will be deceived. In the beginnings they will keep hidden their damned law, which will be written, signed and approved of all their accomplices. They will only publish this damned law. several years before the arrival of the Antichrist, as well as the bad books in which the how to observe their law. They will hide all their writings to persons of the Holy Church; There will only be this bad nation that will read them, and again in secret places and underground, that these hypocrites will have reserved for themselves for this reading.
(1) It is known that in Brittany the priests are named after rectors.
Astonishment of the Church, which assembles in a council, orders them to be Monitor, and finally discovers their hypocrisy.
I see in God that the priests and all the ministers of the Lord will be astonished of such a change, without there having been more missions and sermons than usual. There will, however, be ministers from the Lord, who, more enlightened by the Holy Ghost, will be seized with fear, in the uncertainty of knowing how all this shall turn, and what shall result in so great a fire, which shall extend so quickly.
I see in God that the good ministers, always led by the Holy Spirit, Archbishops and bishops, will hold a council to take advice among themselves. I see in God that he will be decided by the Holy Spirit to cause the the most famous people of their nation; to put secretly guards as sentinels, to examine their driving, both day and night. We won't be long without discover many suspicious things, which will prove that they resented the Church, and it will be convinced that They are imposters and hypocrites. Particularly by the address and vigilance of the persons responsible for Monitor, we will seize some books from individuals, who kept them so well hidden. Thus, God will allow them to are quite discovered, and there will be no doubt, as Our Lord says in His Holy Gospel, that the enemy did not come by night to sow tares among the good grain in the field of the Church. O God! in what penalty and in what agitation will be our mother the holy Church, when she will suddenly see their progress, their extent, and so many souls they have drawn into their party!
Big number of souls seduced; cause of their seduction.
I see in God that since the moment when they will have begun to announce themselves at the Church, until the time when the Church will find out, it is a bad nation. I see in God that since The time when they will come out of their caves, until the one where the Church will recognize Their malice, it will pass a lot of time, perhaps a Half a century, more or less, I cannot say exactly. All the while their evil profession and their pernicious hypocrisy, which will make them look upon as saints, will attract a great number of souls to follow them; so that this work of iniquity will always increase, and will last until the end of the world, always persecuting our mother the Holy Church.
I still see in God that People most likely to be deceived by the artifices of the devil, or by the wiles of the ungodly, will be those who, shaky in faith, will have in their hearts that a dead faith, that is, without vigor and without activity, and who will also indulge in the feelings of nature corrupt, to a spirit of curiosity, to a itching, and as if to some worry of natural lust, to know or to learn all that is passes into these beautiful novelties of religion.
Like, as I have Already said, between now and the judgment we will never have seen so many deceptions under the color of religion, so much devotion and holiness in appearance and reputation, as I also Look at these hypocrites, of whom I have spoken, mounted on the Superb, and filled with the pride and ostentation of
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Lucifer, make beautiful speech; they will attract to them all vain souls of which I have just spoken, and which bear almost only the name of Christian. I see in God that they will run to all These novelties and that they will let themselves be taken more easily and in a stronger way than fishermen do not take fish in their bins (1).
(1) Boat with fisherman.
Medium to avoid seduction.
I still see in God that, to avoid so many misfortunes by the help of grace, It is necessary to cling inviolably to the faith, not to tire to fight one's enemies, to support oneself firm as a rock in the middle of a raging sea that strikes him on all sides of his waves, always remembering his first beliefs, so that the holy and divine law of J. C. may always be our support and the rule of our conduct to the last breath of our life.
In the name of God, let's hunt Far from our minds any curiosity and all lust for All the extraordinary devotions that have beautiful appearance at outside, and shining in the eyes of the world under the color of piety and holiness. For God's sake, let us reject all these novelties and these extraordinary singularities, and Let us advance the business of our salvation with fear and trembling. Let us put our faith, love and hope in God and in our mother the Holy Church, and let us hide, as small chicks, under the wings of her holy protection: she does not will never abandon us, and she will always assist us in the saddest and most dangerous occasions, unless that we ourselves do not abandon it first, as Ungrateful and rebellious children, to run to join his enemies and fight it with them.
§. VI.
Means spiritual employed by the Church in such a great desolation. A large number of seduced souls are Convert. Rage and spite of hypocrites; their abominable doctrine. They will consult with their leaders.
Conversions of several of the chiefs and henchmen of Satan, who become saints and even martyrs.
The Church orders fasts, processions, prayers public, missions, etc.
Here's what will happen when hypocrites will find that the Holy Church has discovered their malice. As soon as the Church notices of this evil nation that will deceive the faithful under the appearance and colors of devotion, it will rise in the Holy Church a certain agitation, and an emotion which, however, will not erupt outside. But I see in God that the Church, to make the subject known positively of his affliction, will arm himself entirely with his weapons Spiritual. Fasts, fasts and fasts will be ordained. processions and public prayers; missions will be made in almost all the cities and the countryside, the forty hours will be established in several locations; the Preachers will be tired from announcing the word of God; and, on this point, it will seem that grace of God will sustain them, as if they were tireless. I see in God that in their sermons they will often touch this unfortunate point of hypocrisy, without naming anyone; they will nevertheless cite some particular facts, avoiding to give no one any opportunity for scandal.
Jubilees in all Catholic kingdoms. Conversion of many souls deceived and seduced.
The Holy Father the Pope, who is the head of the Holy Church, will ordain a Jubilee in all Christian kingdoms. So many prayers and So many good works will not be in vain. I see in God that this will remove from the illusion a quantity of souls which, believing themselves to follow the most perfect, had thrown themselves into the wrong party, and who will renounce it by the sermons they will have heard, and by the prosecution of the good confessors who will examine thoroughly in the penance court. It's by these practices so salutary that the confessors will stop Many souls who will be shaky and ready to himself
give to the wrong party, and who will attach themselves more than ever to faith and Holy Religion.
Rabies and despite the hypocrites by seeing each other altogether Discovered.
The wrong nation, without nothing to burst outside, will die of spite in itself: it will notice this change without be able to say nothing; But when these hypocrites all together together will know positively that they are discovered, they will enrage in their basements. It seems to me that they see them as a band of lions in anger and despair, kicking the earth with your foot, grinding your teeth, tearing your hair out, and to strike one another, saying: This is an indiscretion, It is a betrayal. In a sense, they will be right, because I see in God that souls who will convert and abandon their party, will denounce them to the Church, and he declare their mistakes and bad faith; in such a way as to that the Holy Church will no longer be in doubt about their
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bad maxims. All J. C. ministers, as they make new discoveries, will arm themselves with new spiritual weapons for fight all vices.
Their mistakes, and their purpose to destroy the Church.
God made me know several errors that they will put in their law, in particular the one who looks to the Holy Incarnation of the eternal Word, who has incarnated in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who became man by uniting himself with our human nature, and who thus is true God and true man, God and man all together. It will be this adorable mystery of our saint religion, which will be attacked more violently, and that they will claim to abolish entirely. O blessed souls to whom God will give the grace to suffer persecution and martyrdom for the truth of this adorable mystery ! I see in God that there will be much blood spilled in the Holy Church for these Great truths. I say for these great truths, for so many holy mysteries
are contained in The adorable mystery of the incarnation! Alas! alas! alas! it would be necessary, if God made the grace, to weep tears of blood, or rather dying of pain, when thinks that the ungodly wants to abolish this beautiful mystery of the incarnation Of.
I see in God that they will claim to abolish and destroy entirely Our Mother the Holy Church. And indeed, if God, as he has told us, promised, did not sustain or govern it by his Holy Ghost, our good mother the Holy Church, wife of J. C., would it not be abolished? and could it remain against the Fury of hell and men? On this point, I see in God that Their purpose will be to abolish our holy religion entirely. This so-called Messiah, they will say, made himself the head of the religion of Christians; We must destroy all that he has established and commanded in their law for their conduct. I see in God that all these satellites will not want no longer suffer in the Holy Church neither priest nor Sacrifice, no altar, no confession, no communion, no sacrament. They will want there to appear no sign of our holy religion, and they will not be able to suffer even the sign of the cross of the share of good Christians.
Plot ungodly in their despair. Resolution to go consult their leaders in the most famous city.
I still see in God that after the rage and despair of these ungodly assembled in their basements, as I said of the above, here is the pernicious plot they will form: They will say among themselves: We can no longer do anything good according to our law; The ministers discovered us, and even we do not can make more use of their ministry; They refuse us absolution. We can see that they only want us let us go to commune with others, and that they have lost the maid their opinion of us; So here we are soon Lost of honor and reputation by everyone, and with all of us our families. We even find that the common of the people, instead of honoring us, as he did Previously, flees us with a certain air of contempt. Here is therefore the resolution they will make: It is necessary, they will say, take advice and advice from our leaders, who are the authors of our law and our legislators. The case is quite important.
Trouble and fear of the chiefs and of the whole assembly.
As a result, they will go to find their masters and leaders, who will be hidden in the most famous city. There they will find a large number of from
their associates, who will have gone to their leaders for the same subject. Each of them will tell the news of his country, and will share of his concern and affliction about the fetters which the Holy Church will have put to their projects. I see in God that the different reports they will make to the chiefs will trouble and frighten them; Fear will take hold of their hearts, and, joined to the disorder of their consciousness, the will overwhelm, and fill their imagination with ghosts. They do not will know more about what they will say to each other and what they will say to each other will wonder. God will allow them to have a terrible fear of our mother the Holy Church. They will fear it, and will will say: What are we going to do? Here we are! We will no longer be allowed to dwell among the faithful, and, Moreover, they will want to punish us.
The Grace inspires many to desire to submit to the Church.
Grace, which by the God's mercy always watches over even the most great sinners, will then seek if she could not find entry into their troubled consciousness and Alarmed. What I see in God is that there will be Several, in this troop of satellites, who will speak by a effect of Holy Grace, which will work in them without them know her. Here is the language they will use in this unfortunate assembly, where all will talk without anything resolve. The subjects, as well as the leaders, will be divided in their evil feelings. Various parties will be formed, according to the various feelings. We will make small cabals, in presence even chefs, who sometimes will neither listen nor respond to requests. It is this point that grace will seize to triumph, putting in the mouths of many this language: What will we do? We are going to be the opprobrium of The Church, if we do not surrender
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with a sincere heart : our leaders even lack courage, and no longer know which means take.
They generously separate themselves from others and flee to throw themselves into the bosom of the Church.
In this fatal assembly, those who will have the happiness of having these feelings by the effect of grace, will seek each other, and make band to .part. They will encourage each other, saying: Let us not lose Time, let's leave just now, and let's not listen anymore these; Let us not worry about what will become of them, nor of the means they will take.
I see in God that his Grace produces admirable effects when she finds means to enter into the heart of a sinner. I see that in This troupe, in which grace begins to triumph, there will be many of the chiefs, several sorcerers and Several magicians, who at the same time will come out of this unfortunate assembly. This divine grace will inspire them already such great courage, that it will make them say in Leaving an eternal farewell to the Ungodly; and as if they had nothing more to fear, they will say to them loudly: Do as you please: for us, we We are no longer with you, and we are going from this step, with a sincere and penitent heart, to the Church. Then they will flee with great speed, for fear of being stopped by satellites.
Sincerity of their conversion and penance.
I see in God that this Happy troop, so united by grace, and in so little Time, will go straight where grace will lead her. I even see that she will have no difficulty in being recognized by the saint Church to be truly penitent, because the Holy Ghost will enlighten the Lord's ministers.
When Converted sinners will thus have separated from this evil gang, and that they will have withdrawn from Their underground places, these poor penitents will avoid with care the meeting of their accomplices, in fear and in the fear that they will take them back.
I see in God that these true penitents will be faithful to grace; also God will continue to protect them. The Holy Spirit will enlighten the ministers of the Church by miraculous grace, and will warn them by saying to them: Do not be afraid to receive to penance these poor sinners who will come Contact you. They are no longer, as in the past, ravishing wolves, covered with sheepskins; they won't carry you more money scholarships to cover their hypocrisy; but they will put their contrite, humiliated hearts at your feet and broken with pain for offending God.
Their zeal to repair their scandals. A lot of conversions made by their example and by their lyrics. Second harvest, almost as abundant as the first.
I see in God that everyone of these penitents will first present themselves to the rectors urban or rural; they will not be afraid to do know, even publicly, what they were previously; they will be received most mercifully ministers of the Lord. These good penitents, seeing that God made them so many graces, will be so filled with gratitude and love for God, that in order to respond to it, each of them will return to his family to exhort their wives, their children and their servants. They will not stop there, They will go, as preachers who preach to low voice, instruct their parents, friends, and all people they will know to have given in hypocrisy. Grace will be so fruitful in this opportunity, that we will see on all sides conversions admirable, and sinners fill the churches to come to the court of penance. I see in God that it will be as a second harvest of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is will convert this second time, by austerities and by the prayers that the Church will make, almost as many sinners that he will have converted the first time by The missions, fasts and jubilees I have spoken of above.
They become saints, they, their children, and their grandchildren, and God gives them the grace of martyrdom.
I see God that these True penitents will become saints, and that they will have the happiness that their children, and the children of their children, the also become; and God will give them the grace to suffer on martyrdom, at the approach of the arrival of the antichrist, this so-called Messiah.
Conduct admirable grace towards the greatest sinners. True conversion takes place through faith, hope and charity.
Here's what will produce our Mother Holy Church, who, by her spiritual weapons, will draw to the Lord an innumerable crowd of souls. In addition to the multitude of sinners who will convert through missions, sermons and the tribunal of Penance, what powerful grace will it not obtain Not to that troop I just mentioned! Yes, what I admire here more, and what puts me out of myself, it is to see poor sinners who, by their wickedness, and by their accumulated crimes, will have a foot almost in Hell, who will be in the midst of an assembly all criminal like them, where they will only hear speeches and Evil plans, swearing and blasphemies against God and the Holy Church, and where all shall enrage of despair is to see these poor sinners
converted by grace. What a prodigy! It is in the midst of this infernal assembly that Grace will come to them, and try, Among this disorder of hell, if it will be able to emerge to penetrate to their hearts. This divine grace, by the merits of J. C, will succeed so skilfully, and have so much by force on several of them, than the biggest criminals it will make them good penitents.
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How many victories will win Grace from the first fight! Those who will submit to it will thus already be united together to work for their perfect conversion.
I see in God that the The first movement of this grace will lead them to renounce with all their hearts to their bad law, showing them that they were wrong with their accomplices. I see second place the virtues of faith, hope and charity, to seize their hearts: I see in God the operation that Faith, that virtue so above the senses, so spiritual, so holy, and if divine, and which produces such beautiful fruits, will do in the interior of these poor sinners, immediately that they will have opened the door of their hearts to him. In the midst of darkness of hell and demons including their hearts is surrounded, this living faith, like a grace victorious, becomes apparent, and carries clarity and light wherever it goes, I mean all over the interior of the soul and in its upper parts, and in hunting Demons with darkness: she gives the Peace, enlighten the mind, and raise the understanding to knowledge of God. By this knowledge it touches the heart, and established its seat there with hope and charity; For for the ordinary, these three virtues are inseparable, or, if divided, they become so shaky and obscure, that they lose, for so to speak, the name of virtues.
§. VII.
After the conversion of several of them the heads of the assembly ungodly devote themselves to the service of Satan. He announces to them and, promises them the antichrist. Oaths
execrable against J. C. Anti-Christian law sworn and signed. Horrible uprising of hell against the Church.
The desperate ungodly call Satan to their aid. God's protection on new converts.
I continue to write what will happen in future times, and I come back to what will make the band of satellites, when the penitent saints of which I have spoken will have left their assembly: These ministers of iniquity will be banned, desperate and out of themselves. I see in God that they will be unable to to undertake and execute their evil projects by themselves. That is why, not knowing which path to take, they shall say, Let us have recourse to Satan; as well it is himself who is the master of our businesses, and who makes us succeed Everywhere. They will use magic, and will bring the devils with them. I see in God that demons will devour each other, and will experience a hellish disorder about the new Converted. They will feel God's protection upon them so much, that they will not have the power to tempt them as they do Would. They will even be prevented from present in the assembly of their satellites, while that the new converts will be there.
God will not want demons to come and cast their strokes poisoned against hearts in which grace will only be born.
Appearance demons. Their fury. Bitter reproaches they make to their supporters.
Thus the demons, full of anger and fury against their subjects, will come Melting into their caves like love at first sight: the ungodly not accustomed to being approached in this way by demons, will be struck with terror. Demons will make them feel the full weight of their anger, and their will say: Is this so, cowardly and indolent, that you are? busy supporting the affairs of your homeland? The great magicians will answer: What did you not come yourselves? The demons will answer them: If we could have come, We would not have lost so much of our subjects: all is almost lost among ours; No day goes by, or even of hour, let no one escape us by reputation and by solicitation of these apostates. Demons will add : Let's not waste time. I can, by my courage, by my strength and by my value, pull you out of the abyss where you are all fallen; Raise your courage, pusillanimous as you are; You shame me to have
Such soldiers to my suite!... I see in God that demons will cast upon them fiery strokes of pride, superbness and presumption, and that they will animate them with diabolical courage; so that their Minds and their inflamed hearts will take the feelings, wickedness and malice of the devils.
Speech of Satan. He promises them the antichrist as his leader, and their develops his talents and power.
Then Satan will tell This assembly: Let us waste no time, it is to this blow that I want you to triumph. I want to ruin in fills all nations that will be contrary to us; I want you To make masters of all the earth. You will be adored like Gods; You will be rich in gold and silver, you will have it to command and in as large quantities as the sand of the Sea: I am responsible for providing it to you. I will give you a A leader who shall be powerful in works and words, and who shall be will possess eminently all the sciences; it will be I myself who will be his master. I will instruct him and I will instruct him will take under my guidance from his childhood: he will not have ten years that he will be more powerful, more learned than all of you, and that by His great mind and brilliant actions he will show more than value that you all have together. From this same age from ten years I will walk him by air, I will make him
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See all kingdoms and all the empires of the earth; I will make him master of all the world, and I will give it all to him in his possession. He will be a scholar perfect in the art of war; I will make him a brave warrior and a Great conqueror, who everywhere will win victories. Finally I will make him a God, who will be worshipped as the expected Messiah.
It will not act in all its full power, and will not burst his victories and triumphs only at the age of thirty; but before that In that time he will assert his talents in secret. I tell you I will make known to you others, who are my Topics. From his childhood, you will come to recognize him For your king, and worship him as your god and messiah.
The Demon, as the price of his promises, demands that all sacrifice to his service. Abominable contract with he.
The devil will tell The Assembly: Unfaithful to your homeland and to your law, see what you are; See what I already have made for you, and how many conquests I make you acquire Every day, and despite this you are infidels and ungrateful! I want and I pretend, as a master, Let you give me your signature, as proof that henceforth you all sacrifice yourselves for me, in time and for eternity, with unreserved loyalty to me to serve, to serve your country, and to win me Topics.
They will make a contract, in which the devil will bind himself to keep the promises he will do them, and even go beyond. Fear not, He will tell them, "you will not lack anything in my service; all What you want will be granted: if you need troops to wage war, I will promptly furnish you. They will surrender on all sides to make you triumph and win victories, as long as you keep your promises with fidelity inviolable, and that you never be guilty of a ingratitude similar to the one you committed towards me. I can forgive you for it only as long as I see you. faithful to the future.
Oaths execrable against J. C.
The daemon will add then: Let everyone come and put his hand to the contract, and lend the oath to be faithful to me unto death. I see in God that these poor wretches, transported with joy and enchanted by the promises of demons, delighted and excited by visions and illusions they will form in their imagination, and whose flattering image the will amply compensate for fears, fears and troubles which they have experienced before, will go, from their own will and wholeheartedly, sign the contract, and take the oath of fidelity to the devil for all their lives. They will even say to this enchanter: If We had a thousand lives, we would sacrifice them to you. The Demon answer them: You have not a thousand lives, as you do. I would like to deserve them; But instead, I want and I demand of you again that you love me and hate absolutely Christ whom you call the Son of the Most High; that you renounced all the maxims he established in his Church; than those of you who have been baptized absolutely renounce their baptism and all undertakings they have entered into by oath; that all those who have not been baptized, contain in the oath of fidelity, which they will take to me, that they never will be.
I want and I pretend Absolutely that you hate this so-called as much as I do. God who makes war on us, and who makes us suffer so much, even by his own. One must, like me, have him in hatred and horror, as well as all that comes from him; so that you do not claim No more expect anything from him, and that you recognize that it is I who am your King and your God: and I claim that you surrender to the future, and even now, the worship of worship and love that he demands for him. I deserve it more and more justly than him.
See, my subjects, what There is a difference between my subjects and his. It imposes on his own a law harsh to the senses and nature; He puts them in continual embarrassment, and as a reward he overwhelms them diseases of body and mind, and makes them endure all kinds suffering; And I see how I treat you. You do not can't say I'm a tough and rigorous master at nature. I console you and support you in your weaknesses. I leave you not in poverty, nor in the humiliation of scarcity, as he leaves his own. On the contrary I give you and I will give you everything in abundance.
In this moment, the devil, by his speeches and by the fiery strokes he will throw in their hearts, will do so well, that they will conceive a hatred implacable against God, and that in their fury and rage they will be ready to destroy and annihilate God and his own, if they could. Finally, their hearts and Their spirits will become like those of demons. They will feel for them an ardent zeal, an affection of love, and a great desire to be faithful to their service; so that those in the Assembly who will not be also from the Society of Great Magicians, will hasten to enter it at the moment with the
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greater satisfaction, and to the great contentment of demons.
When the contract has been written and signed, and that the oaths have been pronounced, the assembly will then become like the leader great magicians; and the demon will say to them with an air of joy and satisfaction: It is now that you are my true friends, and that the pain you have made me in the past is forgiven. I make you masters of all creatures and
all my authority; I give you full power to enlist on this contract all those who will want to make the same promises you made. I I will then be obliged to grant them the same graces and the same favors I have promised you, provided that in their undertakings they take the prescribed oath and give their signature.
Law anti-Christian added to the contract and oaths for be observed. What it consists of.
It is now, My friends, that we must all act together. Show me your law, which must be attached to the contract we have just made, and which must be placed at the head of this law, in order to let it be the first to be observed and put into practice. I see in God that this law will be brought by the chiefs of the Assembly. The demons will put this on themselves contract at the head of their law, and they will add to This law all that pleases them, according to their evil spirit.
Here's what I see in God: In this cursed law, the longed-for Messiah will be announced, and it will be said that he is the one alone in who must be believed, and that he must be worshipped. It will be announced by prophets and by angels a few years (I see in God that it will be like two or three years) before his birth. I cannot mark here all that will be said most flattering and moreover accomplished on his person, on his beauty and on his wealth. He will be as if surrounded by divine clarity, brighter, than the sun's rays. It will be published accompanied by a heavenly court of angels, who will walk to its retinue; Whole legions of angels will return him their homages as to their king, and will worship him as the true Almighty God, and the longed-for and longed-for Messiah since the beginning of the world. But in all this I do not see in God what abominable errors and execrable impostures. That will be so many demons who, under the figure of the angels of light, will prophesy the coming of this man unfairness; as also they will be legions of demons who will come to court him and worship him as the Messiah.
What makes me the most It is that I see in God that this accursed law will contain Many blasphemies and imprecations against our adorable Savior. If I wasn't afraid to offend God, I wouldn't would never think of writing such a Abominations; The scoundrels will make themselves known by their impious and deplorable language. Here's what they'll say in relation to the Incarnate Word. They will claim that it is a false Messiah and an enchanter, who has been possessed the devil; that he is a murderer who has been sentenced to death for his wrongdoings and for his false law; than several people did not want to
recognize for the Messiah; that this is why they tried and condemned him to death and killed between two brigands by the hands of Executioners; that it is this criminal who is called the real one Messiah awaited; than from there several people, under the title of Christians, have made a profession to observe this harsh law, which seems to be established only to destroy man, rather than to make him live; that a number considerable of these Christians were blind enough and foolish enough to believe in him and all that he has prescribed in his bad law; than generations In generations they have sustained each other in this false and vain belief, and that there have been so obstinate in their opinions, that they better liked to suffer death, and shed their blood in defense of their falsehood belief and their false Messiah.
Terrible uprising of the forerunners of the antichrist, against the Church and Christians. Publication of their abominable law.
These scoundrels will insult and boo good Christians, by taking oaths and imprecations that will shake heaven and earth. It's no longer time to quibble, They will say, we must embrace this new law, which promises us In a few years the true Messiah so desired, who has so much love for men, and who will fill them with so many Graces and favors: if you do not want to surrender Good grace, you will be forced to do so by force, for the hour is Coming that will be made, the conquest of all the earth by the power and by the virtue of the true Messiah. Let's destroy, let's will they say among themselves, all this so-called Church, and Let this false Messiah no longer be spoken of in the world.
I see in God that after having preached the people with an appearance of sweetness they have copies of their false law posted in the crossroads and city poles, and that they will have them read publicly, both in the cities and in the countryside: then They will decry and cancel all the mysteries of our Holy religion, especially that of the incarnation of the Verb; They will ridicule the ceremonies of the Holy Church and make a mockery of them; they will treat
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From Fables The Saints mysteries and all the sacraments; then they will all publish the kinds of torments that will be inflicted on those who will persist in following the law of J. C., and who will refuse to obey their command.
But before employing Rigor, demons will appear under the figure of angels of light, to announce their true promised messiah; they will exhort people to believe in Him, and to renounce to this false prophet named Jesus. All Their artifices and stratagems will last for several years. years, before they used de rigueur with their troops diabolical soldiers.
The Sister ends her story here, because in the first volumes, she reported the persecution of The Antichrist. God will miraculously protect His Church until this last day of the world.
It is impossible for me to to be able to write down everything I see in God, about What is contained in this damned law: that is why I will only mark here the most essential things and the most necessary, especially since in the other volume, that I had written eight or nine years ago, it is marked More distinctly how, since the coming of the Antichrist in the Church this holy Church will last until the day of the Last Judgment, in spite of all the fury of hell and of all its satellites. As Hell Rages will rise up against the Church, Our Lord will assist and protect it: there will be only the number of martyrs whom the Lord has ordained, not one more or less. If hell has false prophets, the Lord will have his true prophets who will proclaim truths divine, and who, by the divine torch of faith, will imprint them in the hearts of the true faithful. It will be while God will not spare miracles, even for to make the children of his Church live and subsist, who will be in a great famine.
§. VIII.
Fall terrible and frightening of the Antichrist and his accomplices.
The Archangel St. Michael was sent to head the Church. Our Lord Himself appears to His Church to strengthen it in battle.
When the antichrist, triumphant over his victories in the war he declared to the Church, will arm itself to crush and abolish it, to whatever he believes, God will send the great archangel St. Michael to the head of his Church, with troops of angels who the environment; and in the days when the Church has had more martyrs, Our Lord himself will appear to his Church; it will strengthen the faithful with a twofold faith, and will say to them, "Courage, my dear children; lo You fought well: a large number of martyrs are today crowned in the sky; there will still be a quantity prodigious marked in my eternal decrees, which I am still waiting; and when all the martyrs, that I have destined, have come to me, I will give you back invisible to all your tyrants; My mighty hand will hide you in secret retreats, where you will subsist until the end of the world, while I will precipitate and that I will crush this man" of sin and this cursed race of "Satan to the depths of the abyss of Hell. »
The Antichrist and his accomplices precipitated from the clouds in the underworld.
As a result, I see in God that demons will no longer have power over the earth; They will be cast into hell with all their sorcerers, their great magicians, and all the leaders of this Damn law. Yes, they will all be rushed almost from the height of the clouds, on which they will believe to ascend to heaven as Gods with their leader, whom they will believe more powerful than all the other gods.
God made me know the superb and evil intentions of Satan and these satellites. They will rise to heaven with great joy and Great triumph, by design to go to war on the eternal Being, to raise up their thrones above his, and to annihilate him if they could, aspiring to a glory like that of Lucifer. It's in this moment that God will send the great archangel St. Michael, clothed with the strength and justice of God, which will come from high from the sky before them with a menacing air, and which will carry terror among the infernal spirits.
Our Lord will hear his voice by the breath of the archangel St. Michael, and will say: Go, accursed, descend into the depths of the abyss of Hell. At the moment the earth will open, and present a terrible abyss of fire and flames, where will fall Pell-mell this innumerable cohort, as well as its accursed law, which she will carry with her, and all will go to the bottom of the the abyss of hell.
Mercy of God towards many who fall by the side of the chasm, whose flames rise into the Air.
This God, full of goodness and of mercy, even in his very justice, seek to do thanks to sinners. There will be some who do not will not be as criminal as those I have spoken of, and who will have made the damned law. This divine Savior will deliver them, and will allow them to fall next to the chasm, and even without harming oneself; which will not be able to Arrive without miracles.
As soon as the other unfortunate people will have fallen into the abyss, God will burst his righteousness by the flames, which will rise as high as Satan's satellites will have risen. God will mark by this that he will want to purify the air of the dirty garbage with which he will have been infected with Crimes of these scoundrels, and at the same time frighten
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those who have fallen beside the abyss, and arrange them for purposes of grace and mercy than this God of goodness will have on them. When the flames have fluttered a few minutes, they will sink again into the bottom of the abyss, and the earth will close. But this earth will become a horrible fire; it will always be covered with thick darkness, in which will come to take refuge of awful specters, Snakes, aspics, finally all that is most hideous in nature.
Consternation unfaithful Christians. Conversion of part of the Accomplices of the Antichrist fallen by the side of the abyss. Perversity of others.
Poor Christians who will have allowed themselves to be surprised, either by fear or by the illusions of the devil, who will have signed this cursed law and renounced J. C., to commit himself to the Service of demons, will be in consternation. They will run terrified, one on one side, and the others on the other. In this awful disaster, grace of the Lord will come to seek those who will receive it; she will go Find those who have fallen by the chasm, and the number of which may rise to a third. The other two-thirds will have fallen into hell. Above Half of the remaining third will convert to the Lord
and the others will refuse the grace. A few days later, they will gather as wretched. They will eat, drink, make good food, and will think only of spending the gold and silver they will have in abundance. In their drunkenness, they will say: It is true that we have lost our leader; But no matter, we did not perish The rest of us, and we are having good food. What can he do to us? arrive?
§. IX.
State of the Church and the World after the fall of the antichrist.
The World will remain for many years after the fall of the antichrist.
When the Antichrist and his accomplices will have fallen into hell, the judgment will not arrive yet. There will be some waiting for him day by day, and with so much impatience, that they will get tired of boredom in this waiting. It will be the Holy Church that will languish in this waiting; But no man can and does not know. will never know the year or the day when the Son of Man will come to judge the living and the dead. I see in God that he will be able to It would still be several years before the son of the man comes; But I don't see how many years there will be.
Retribution Rebels to grace.
The scoundrels which the Lord will have left for their conversion, instead of convert, will all assemble in a great city: they will still raise troops to persecute the Church. But this is what the Lord says to me: "Those who shall rise against my Church, I will crush them in my righteousness, and I will not spare them any more than the fire spares the straw. Thus these wretches will perish in their obstinacy, and the Holy Church shall subsist on earth in A great peace and in a deep tranquility.
Perfect conversion of those who will be faithful to grace.
I see in God that the poor sinners who have opened their hearts to the grace, will be in the greatest consternation. These poor people Sinners
recall some remnants of Christianity and faith, which grace will bring back to life in their hearts; but not knowing what will become of our mother the Holy Church, they will seek it and will not be able to To find. Then Our Lord will send his angels, who will teach them that the Holy Church is in no way destroyed, and that it never will be; that God wants them to join her and that they convert perfectly to the Lord. It will be then that the Holy Church will see penitents rush from all sides towards her to return to her fold. One will hear from all sides but weeping and groaning of the more bitter penance, both on the part of the new converted, only from the faithful of the Church, who will offer themselves to God to do penance for the poor sinners, who will then be so contrite that there are will have several who will die of pain. They will all be saints, and the assembly of the faithful will resound with the actions of grace, praise and blessings they will give unto the Lord.
§. X.
Circumstance the reign of the antichrist forgotten by the Sister, and that it reports here.
Rome Invaded. The martyred Pope and his prepared seat for the antichrist.
Here is a circumstance that I failed to report in time. I see in God that When the accomplices of the Antichrist begin to to make war, they will place themselves with Rome, where They will triumph by their victories of all empires and all the kingdoms that will be around this city. There is a Something I'm not sure about. What I do know is that Rome will perish entirely, may the Holy Father the Pope will suffer martyrdom, and his seat will be prepared for the antichrist. But I don't know yet if it will be made a little before the Antichrist by his accomplices, or by the Antichrist himself, at the moment he enters in the course of his victories.
I will say no more on these kinds of materials, especially since I have extended further in the other volume, which I had written There are
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has nine to ten years. I have reported in this notebook several things, which are not in the other, because God did not have them for me not given knowledge then, and particularly of everything that concerns the bad law.
§. XI.
That that the Sister has known in God in relation to the present time.
Vision who makes known to the Sister the great graces which God grants to his Church through prayers and the merits of J. C. crucified.
I will say here, to conclude those matters which concern the enemies of the Church, this that I have known in God in the present time. One day, the spirit of the Lord led me up a high mountain. I saw Below the clouds a great thing stretched in the air, which began on the eastern side of Paris, and which was going to end up around noon. I couldn't see all of it. length nor the end of the eastern side of Paris. His width was about four alders; she was covered with stars from one end to the other of fine gold and fine silver, much brighter than are usually the stars. The bottom was transparent like crystal, so I could see as well
above and below. All this was bordered by a belt as wide as the hand on both sides, which was also covered and dotted with stars, and several numbers, as well as of many other things that I could only admire, without to be able to understand nothing. All this spread a light of great whiteness of great purity and such purity clarity, that it resembled that of pure crystal...
This material me appeared very light and all celestial. She was not point agitated by the winds, and always remained stable. I was turned towards Paris, and so busy to consider with admiration so many things if different and so beautiful, that I did not pay attention that the Most Holy Trinity was at my side. Turning back to noon, to see where it all all I saw a large and beautiful painting hanging in the air, at the height of this thing so beautiful and so brilliant, which resulted at the foot of the board.
This painting represented the Most Holy and Most Adorable Trinity, The Father Eternal held in his arms his dear son attached to the cross, and the Holy Spirit on his chest. God made me to know that his dear son was praying to him now and always for his holy Church, in the name of his cross, of his holy death and his passion, and that what I saw was the figure of the the graces and blessings He bestowed upon his Church, in view of the prayers and merits of the death and passion of his dear son.
I threw myself to lap. Prostrate at the foot of the Most Holy Trinity, I adored him; and uniting myself with Our Lord, I set out to pray for the Church. I found myself appalled and damaged in the depth of my nothingness, in the presence of God; And when I got up from my prayer, everything was gone. It has been three and a half years since this happened to me (1).
(1) In 1794 or at most late at the beginning of 1795.
The Sister has no knowledge of special graces What does vision mean. She simply says what she does with it Think.
God did not make me know in what time he would pour his graces on his Church, and he, would make people feel peace. Here is the thought that comes to me here, and that is quite natural, that is to say, it is not the effect of an inspiration divine, nor of any extraordinary way. It seems to me that this could announce the freedom of worship, and the happiness that one hopes to see the ministers exercise their holy ministry in churches. God be blessed! I thank you to God.
Note. — I saw in God that we would form the project to recall priests exiled, with the intention of sacrificing them and putting them in death, by exposing them by violence to the onslaught of war; but I hope God won't allow it.
I also saw in God, there is several years ago, the Vendée, and I was there.
I The screw as a dreadful and uninhabitable desert, which does not presented only the gruesome remnants of the carnage that were there fact.
I had these two views at about the same time; and as I see that one has been accomplished, I am afraid. Let the priests unfortunately not come to run.
END.
LETTERS FROM
THE SISTER OF THE NATIVITY,
To Mr. Genêt, and to M. le Roy, Dean of the Pilgrim, his confessors. (1)
Long live Jesus! Live Jesus! Long live Jesus!
FIRST LETTER.
To Mr. Genêt.
The Sister urges him to hide well, and beg him to send him what she had given him. She tells him that a counter-revolution, if it takes place, will not can take place as quickly as one imagines, and God is angry with France.
My father
I learned with a lot of Pleasure of the news of your health. I beg you
(1) M. le Roy was, as as we know, the confessor of the Sister of the Nativity since the departure and during Mr. Genêt's absence.
These letters, which we found without date, by bringing together what they contain with the rest of the events and with what Mr. Genêt says in Several places in his work seem to us to have been written, the first in. 1793 (See first volume, Pag. 99 et seq.); the other two, which are obviously from the same date, at the beginning of 1798. (See second volume, pag. 492 et seq. ) Moreover, it seems certain that these Three letters, at least the last two, are not reached Mr. Genêt. (See third volume, Pag. 376 et seq. )
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to take all means I fear that the times will not hide well, because I fear that the times will not become even worse than they are. Besides, we need to abandon all to Holy Providence, and to all that that it will please God to make of us.
My Father, you I noticed that you were at a loss to know if you had to send what I put in your hands. Here's what I will tell you: Send, if you find a safe way, and Trusted persons who can, by their address and by their vigilance, getting things to a safe port. I know that no one is exempt from the dangers and accidents that can happen; but also let us put our trust in the Lord, and believe that Everything he keeps will be well guarded. Thus, my Father, If such an opportunity arises, do not delay in the thing. I think that if there is stirring, the dangers will be Even bigger on sea than on land.
My Father, I have a word to tell you about what I see in God. I can't explain myself, because God makes me see obscurely. If it is made a counter-revolution (I don't know if it's next) or remote), I believe it will not be done as well as quickly as one might imagine. There will be a lot of debates between opposing parties; and even, when will believe the troubles appeased, there will be on one side and on the other terrible uprisings: there will even be between Christian princes.
My Father, here is One more remark: God, being angry at the France, said to me in his anger, "I will divide it. She will be shared like an old coat that is torn and that we throw away. I don't give you that for sure. He can get better or worse, or nothing at all, because I don't see that in God that confusedly (1)....
(1) It is obvious, by all the context and by the very uncertainty of the Sister, that these words: I will divide the France, etc., are those of a father irritated, who, in his anger, strongly threatens to not be obliged to punish. Conversion and penance of many sinners, the prayers of Holy souls, and even more the miracles of mercy that God has worked for the France since that Threat made more than twenty-six years ago, must seems to reassure us.
SECOND LETTER.
To Mr. le Roy, Dean of the Pilgrim, to then pass to M. Broom in England.
The Sister the consults on a trip she intends to make to Malo; shows her the desire she always feels to join Mr. Genêt in England; tells him all about which happened on this subject between her and her Superior and in particular marks to him all the evidence she believes she has. God's will for this journey, including a vision, in which Our Lord makes known to him that this journey has was prevented by a condition too natural that the creatures had for her, and that she would have been very harmful to itself, if it had not preserved it by a special grace; Finally, it requests him not to inform his Superior to what is contained in this long letter.
My Father,
I have a piece of advice to Ask you about our mother. I count go to Saint-Malo next spring, with both nuns with whom I live; But I am sure that my Superior, when I ask his permission, will be there. will openly oppose, and I fear that instead of granting it to me, she does not defend it to me at all. However, here is what I see in God: His will is that I go there to retire with these Two nuns in solitude, in the home of this holy widow who promises not to bother us in any way, and to procure us all the ways to observe our rule as much as possible. We will be withdrawn in a campaign, and we will have for enclosure A large walled garden. My Father, you know that we do not We are not here as we will be in the countryside: we are here as in the world, especially at dinner, where we Let's eat with the people of the world. As for our rule, We cannot observe it. When we have to be skinny, we are made make bold. We are moreover despite the fact that we have, exposed visits from people around the world all day long, and even in the evening; what makes us lose
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almost entirely the practice of silence. My Father, according to this presentation, God and my conscience compel me to get out of here, where I am only by compulsion and necessity. I would prefer, even if it were possible, to have only bread and water, and be removed from the world. I ask you, if he please, your opinion: tell me how I should do, if our Mother forbids me to go.
My Father, besides the obligations of my vows and my rule, from which I have just Talking to you, I still have other reasons on the side of God who compels me to follow His will, and conduct of her holy Providence, wherever she shall judge at Talk to drive me. I discover here a secret: One year, or maybe more, before I leave my community, God had made it known to me that Mr. G. would go to England, and that I then had to go there also to go to the join, and live under his guidance, for the arrangement of the work that he had in his hands.
One day I was entering in our Mother's cell, she came to say to me, smiling: My Sister, do you want to go to England? some nuns and I would like to go. I replied: My Mother, I have seen in God that I must pass through it, and go to find M. G. She took my response seriously; but let me go without her, That is what she does not want. Also all the occasions that could meet to make me go to that side, She hid them from me, and was careful to conceal them with me. There you go Why she doesn't think it's appropriate for me to go to Malo.
My Father, it is necessary Let me explain myself more clearly. This is how the good Lord allowed that I discovered what Our Mother judged to about hiding and concealing myself. One of the nuns with whom I remain, and in whom I have a lot of confidence, once told me innocently, not knowing that our Mother had nothing for me hidden: My sister, Mr. G In many ways
for you, since he found you a lady in England, who wants Receive you well in her home for all your life, healthy or sick. This speech surprised me very much, especially since the occasion had passed for more than three years. I asked This nun how she had learned this. She replied. that our mother had received a letter. I say to This nun that I had no knowledge of (this) she told me. I dropped that, not knowing if the thing was true. However, I say to myself: I will know how to Our mother what it is. The affair was forgotten. I was more of one year without
Talk to him about it. Finally, a One day I was with her, I prayed to her, if she judged it to be to want to tell me the truth about something who was looking at me.
At first it does not remembered not what I asked of him; but when I had him reported what the nun had told me, she made a confession sincere, and said to me: My Sister, this lady who wanted to have you with her was a Frenchwoman who had sold all his property to go to England; Mr. G....
had spoken to him in your favour; She accepted you out of charity, and she proposed to have Mr G for chaplain in England. When I heard these
things I remained everything forbidden, seeing that I had lost such a great opportunity to accomplish the will of God, according to which he had made known to me here- In front of this My Mother, I replied, I I had no knowledge of this. See and consider which Advantage it would have been for my soul to have been under the guidance of M. G., to whom God had made me entrust All the secrets of my conscience! Our Mother replied My sister, the lady wrote me two letters in fifteen days, to find out before his departure whether Mr G. was past.
But as it was my Superior, I did not dare to ask her what was at My subject in these letters. She said to me again: If you were went to England, and that I had also gone there with you, the Superiors would have dismissed me because of of the community. Seeing that this interview was not Not pleasant, I changed my words, telling him that the thing was done, that it was no longer time to think about it, and that the fruits were no longer in season. Since that time, I never spoke to our Mother again. I have some spoke only with the nun who had taught me first. I suspected she agreed with our Mother: she confessed to me, frankly, that she had not entered for anything, which she had absolutely unknown that our Mother would have concealed it from me and what said it, because she thought I knew.
My Father, despite The resolutions I made to sacrifice everything to God, to forget everything, and to put the thing in his hands, All the better since all this concerns my superior, on the will and the government of which I have neither to reason, nor deliberate, and that it is up to I, little subject, to submit and obey, I confess to you, my Father, that in spite of these resolutions, if God had not assisted me with His help, it would have been for me a an opportunity that would have greatly offended him. When I considered the painful and dangerous state Business
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of my consciousness, without to be able to find help only in the pure goodness of God for the salvation of my soul, in spite of myself I felt dejected, and by two or three times this thought penetrated so vividly my heart, that I remained speechless; and that I I almost fell into weakness. Seeing that nature dominated me, Filled with pain, I lifted my heart to the sky. How many times has my adorable Savior come Himself to console me with his holy word, telling me above all that he was well able to compensate me, for what the creature had caused me harm; that he was my director, my Savior and my salvation!
In the midst of these sentences, he pleased God to console me in another way.
He arrived from Saint-Malo a Letter from the Holy Widow to whom we had to retire. She urged us to come and stay with her. I felt In my interior a great consolation, and a movement that let me know that it was the will of God that I make the journey. Then God gave birth in my heart a certain hope that all was not lost for I, and I was told, that I had good luck in the practice of zeal for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls, and in particular of the one I had to take for the salvation of the mine for God's sake; finally, that I had to surrender to the conduct of Holy Providence, which would never abandon me. Here, in this light of which I have just spoken to you, the first clue by which God makes me hope that I will be able, with his grace, to find M. G.....
Here's yet another clue that I recognize in God. My Father, may he remember that when you come to M. de la Janière's, I gave you in the evening a small note, which contained a secret of my conscience. I marked the will of God and that of his Holy Mother to make people write.
Here's what the Lord touching this note: "Keep my secret as a deposit in your heart, and do not discover it than when you speak to my minister in person. » Here again is what the Lord says to me: "You shall not give back any more. account of your conscience to the woman, not even to your Superior, unless I mark it to you precisely in great need for my glory. So, my father, here is the second clue that gives me great hope that I will speak to Mr G before
to die.
Here's one more third that surprises me a lot. I found myself carried by the spirit of the Lord to a certain place, with
two or three people. One put in my hand a candle of white wax which weighed about two books and a half, and which was more than half burned; but it was extinguished, and no longer burned. I am Said: This candle is yours, it belongs to you. There was a tick, which took from the bottom to the top, and which was deeper at the bottom than at the top, so that at the bottom a man's thumb could have entered it, and that in the top there is no had more than a small trace. This checkmark, which was not In a straight line, went left-to-left by Places. I asked the people who were with me what that it was just that, and what that tick meant. One of them answered me, showing me the candle: This tick is made in the manner of ivy, which, when attached to a tree, attaches itself so strongly to it, that it would penetrate to the heart, if that were possible.
In the meantime, our Lord appeared to me, and the people, who were with me Disappeared. I found myself alone with Our Lord, holding my candle in hand. In my concern, I addressed myself to He with all humility, showing him my candle, and in him saying: Teach me, Lord, please, what means this candle that was given to me, and especially What does this tick mean, which makes it so deformed?
Our Lord, by turning to me, said to me, "My child, you see this coche, which does such a great harm to this candle; it means the natural love and affection that creatures have had For you. They have done more harm to your soul than This tick does not make it to your candle. Our Lord made me know in particular that it was at The occasion of what had been hidden from me the means that are were present to go and join my confessor. I started to grieve me, and to lament the deprivation of so much. of lights and so many graces for the glory of God and for my salvation, which I thought I had lost, and which were extinguished for me, like my candle which was extinguished.
Our Lord said to me, " Do not grieve to see your candle extinguished. By my Grace, if you are faithful, it will light up again. Know that without my grace, which has preserved your Heart of the attacks that the creatures would have on you Carried by the artifice of the devil, they would have been more than enough to lose you. But since you have me consecrated your heart from your early childhood, I have always attracted him to me, by a
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» grace special that makes me the master. This grace, you don't know her; but I let you know it at present. It is not given to all; It's Why you owe me great gratitude and a Great obligation. It is this grace that has sought to always withdraw from creatures, and turn Always your heart to me. It is this same grace who has preserved you so many times in the course of your life the pitfalls that the devil has set for you by love and by hatred of creatures.
See, the Lord added, as the tick of your candle is printed. Nothing more Dangerous that this natural love, which attaches itself to the way ivy, and which is printed in the same way as the tick on this candle. But all the fights you've had at support against creatures, have never reached your heart, because I have always attracted him to me. »
Our Lord, before I leaving, made me see, by a supernatural light, on one side something of the greatness of his pure love and glory, and on the other hand the nothingness and the horrible emptiness of corrupt and disordered natural love, which is separated from that divine beauty which is God. He seemed to me that from a point of view God was making me see an abyss creatures who live only on this disordered love of themselves and creatures. Not to mention this profane and criminal love, I have seen that most of the creatures separated themselves from God and his love, by not living only in their pleasures and for all their natural pleasures and worldly. Our Lord let me know that if I spoke with his ministers on this matter, which seemed to me to be like inexhaustible in the greatness of God, they should not report only orally.
My Father, here is Finally, one last clue. I have been several times dangerously ill, and especially in my last illness I had a harsh attack of dropsy of chest; but God by his Pure goodness delivered me from it by the help of a Heavy sweat that lasted more than a month. Now I finds me a completely different person. My fevers have ceased; I regained my natural strength both inside and outside. The Eating, drinking it, sleeping it, everything resumes. I find myself as in my robust. I'm surprised, and I don't know how many time the Lord will leave me in this disposition. This is what the More will see.
To Mr. Genêt. — All I have just had written was for Mr. dean; Please pass it on to you. My father, I asks you not to give any knowledge of what is written Here in these twelve pages, at our
Reverend Mother abbess, because she knows nothing about it, for good people Reasons. If you are kind enough to write to me, please address your letters to M. le Dean, who will pass them on to me...
THIRD LETTER.
To Mr. Genêt.
The Sister to him expresses the great consolation she felt in learning from him; congratulates him on his zeal for the glory of God, and communicates to him his worries of Consciousness and the distressing fear she has of being reprobate of God. Despite the need for Her help, she begs him not to expose himself to return to France peace restored.
Finally she renews to him her keen desire to pass to England, and On the one hand, he explains to him the difficulties of this travel, and on the other his strong determination to everything undertake to do God's will.
My father
It is now at I intend to speak, pending the fact that I have never the happiness of talking to you in person. The last two letters you wrote to our Mother very consolation, and helped to restore my health, by telling me that you were still alive and healthy. Alas! When I prayed for you, I I didn't know if I was praying for a living person or for a dead person. This makes me made more than a hundred times sacrifices of resignation to the will of God. You recommended that I Do not forget you in my prayers. Alas! How would I forget you, my Father, since the Lord speaks to me of you? I have entrusted to you the secrets that the Lord had put as if in deposit in my heart; you have done to value the talents of the Lord, and on the day of his visit you will be accountable, and your talents will have benefited from one hundred for one. The Lord has united you by a bond of his purest charity, in the interests of his pure love and glory, and in the zeal for the salvation of souls, without any mixture human.
My Father, you told me that my trial was going well. But, alas! I have another trial that is much more disturbing for me, and whose
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Lawyers are against me. They accuse me, they condemn me, they judge me even before being judged by the sovereign judge. The crimes of my life, all my infidelities towards God serve them as pieces that they assert against me. One So bad cause in my trial is, according to their malice Diabolical: so they swore my loss. My soul Afflicted and alarmed resembles, in this state, a a vineyard where passers-by and thieves have entered, and in which they have done much damage and Ravages: foxes made their dens there, without even that I have noticed it; The ties of this vine have missed, which caused him to fall in several places; She has Greatly in need of pruning, and no one is finds to do so; it bears no good fruit, and it does not bear any fruit. grows only shoots; My enemies rejoice at the sight of my misfortunes, and I see in God that they make me a subject of derision, saying to each other: Let's tear her out of it. the arms of his beloved; Let's rush it into our abyss, and that forever we reproach her for what she has done to his God. O dreadful and lightning word, More to fear than the cruelest, most terrible deaths than all demons, and worse than hell itself!
My Father, here it is Precisely my cross and my true cross. All sleepers and sorrows that the demons have caused me, and that they could do me for all eternity, when even God would allow them to go on a rampage all together against me with all the torments of hell; Yes, my Father, I can say that this would not be my most Great cross.
But, the true cross that makes me seizes the heart, and that dwells upon me, it is fear to be separated from my God is the fear of lose my God. This thought alone would be able, it seems, to take my life, if my divine Saviour did not come, to my help, by raising my courage with a lively faith, by strengthening my heart by sweet hope, and consoling it by the love of his charity. Thus, sustained by grace, Despite all my disasters, I throw myself to body lost in the arms of pure mercy and pure mercy goodness of God, hoping that, though by my sins I only deserve hell, it will not lose me without resources, and that he will not condemn me forever.
My Father, I have not No need to tell you so much, I think you see the sad State of my consciousness: I beg you that it does not oblige you not to
expose you to come and me To help and assist me with your charity. If it were the God's will, I would rather die and expose a thousand times my life, that to be the cause that the life of no minister of the Lord was put in danger.
Never think about go back to France, only when you are assured that the Peace is well strengthened.
When you have read what is above (1), you will see the marks of the will of God upon me, and the desire I have to fulfill it, please to Holy Providence to give me the means.
(1) The long letter preceding, addressed first to M. le Roy, to be sent to Mr. Genêt.
Alas! The first opportunity, more than five years ago, escaped me, and perhaps Never will meet again. However, my Father, I beseech you for the sake of God, and for the salvation of my soul, to make a another attempt, to see if Holy Providence would make me by your protection and by your good care such great grace, than to find me some poor asylum, when it would only be the corner of a stable. Ah! pleasing God that I was there, Even if I had only bread and water little, and only to sustain a life that I believe will not be long.
My Father, what I Would be to do my residency with Catholics, and in a place where you would have charity to come and see me without any danger of your life. But, alas! When I think of this case, at first glance I look at it as impossible to a poor person, who is so destitute of everything, that it depends in everything on Providence and pure charity. Where would anyone find a nautonier who would like me to pass for nothing, because scarcely could I have enough to Feed during the trip? These thoughts absorb me, and I sometimes think it is madness to want carry out this undertaking; However, I leave it to Your prudence, and I surrender to the Holy Will of God and your wise counsel. If you believe or see Let it be impossible, ah! This is over: to No one is bound by the impossible. We must never tempt God, but rather, follow His will gently and patiently, according to the natural course of things, and without having the temerity to expect miracles from God; however, my Father, if you know that it is God's will, do not Let's not discourage: I can tell you that if my health continues to be good, I am in just as good a condition that I was when I left my community; and do not doubt my courage, by the grace of God, who animates me, provided
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that the good Lord grant me the grace that your warnings reach me. Yes, my Father, I can say what I say to the Lord: My heart is ready, my Heart is ready to go where the will of God and obedience will lead me. Should we leave? Just now, nothing would stop me: the rain, the Snow, frost, the harshness of winter, the dangers both at sea that on earth, I don't care, and I'm also ready to leave in all these bad times, as long as it is the God's will, only if it were in a pleasant spring when the weather is more favorable.
My Father, if the right God gives me the grace that this little book reaches you between hands, I beg you to acknowledge the receipt, I will be very happy to do so. I pray to the Lord that he will preserves more and more in his love and in the zeal of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, with good health, that is much needed for your work. Pray to God let everything be fulfilled on the whole Church, according to his saint will. I beg you, my Father, to continue to pray to God for me, as you see that I have such a great need; I do it for you, and I am,
Your Most Humble and very obedient servant, Sister of the Nativity.
Madame's certificate of Saint Magdeleine, Superior of the Sister of the Nativity.
I certify that this supplement is copied with the greatest accuracy, and Collated with the original, as I was able to obtain it. In witness whereof I sign,
Louise The Breton of Sainte-Magdeleine, Religious of Sainte Claire, Town Planner, at Fougères, last Superior of the Sister of the Nativity, who has knowledge of the facts, having learned them from his mouth, and usually long before the Events.
End of the fourth and last volume.
TABLE
Some Contents of the fourth volume.
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Editor's opinion... Pag. -
ARTICLE I. Remarkable features of the Sister's life, told by herself. 1
§. I. Extraordinary light that the Sister receives of God from his earliest childhood. Impressions made in His soul the first instructions of his Mother. Ibid.
§. II. The Sister, after having held for a long time secret everything God worked in She, is forced to discover it and even to to write. His first writings were burned, and after a long persecution, that she suffers at This subject, she writes again 13
§. III. Our Lord Appears to the Sister in various ways and under Different forms 35
§. IV. Demons Also Appear to the Sister in a variety of ways. Difference between apparitions of the devil and those of Our Lord. 46
§. V. Sister's struggles against passions and natural inclinations of the heart, shortly after his religious profession. 58
§. VI. Other struggles of the Sister against the passions, and especially against that of pride 71
ARTICLE II. Developments and instructions on various Topics already covered In the previous volumes, Hell, Penance, God's goodness to sinners sincerely converted, the large number of reprobates, and the Last judgment. 85
§. I. Details of the reserved torments In hell for worldly souls and sensual. Corruption of a heart spoiled by the spirit of the world. Ibid.
§. II. Fears and fears of conscience that the devil inspires the Sister to bring her to despair. Consolations and instructions she receives from Our Lord. 97
§. III. Questions about confession. Divine Ministry Priests at the court of penance. God's goodness and love for Truly Penitent Sinners 105
§. IV. Large Number of Rushing Social Fellows every day in hell. New graces of conversion that God grants sinners, especially by warning them that His judgment is approaching. Unrepentant death of socialites 118
ARTICLE III. On perfection and Christian virtues, especially on faith and love of God, virtues Fundamentals of Salvation 133
§. 1. Vision in which the Sister learns how Consists of true perfection ibid.
§. II. Importance of Faith. The Sister takes from His childhood the pure faith as the rule of his conduct. 137
§. III. How the Sister made her prayer throughout his life. Method of prayer to him taught by Our Lord!. 147
§. IV. He who wants to return to God and walk in the Following Our Lord must be conducted by faith and by the love of God 156
§. V. On the Lights of Faith 172
§. VI. On faith, hope and charity, Fundamental virtues of Hi 188
ARTICLE IV. On the perfection to which are called persons consecrated to God. How far The obligation of religious vows extends. Abuse are introduced into the communities, both men and of women. How should the nuns behave in the world that the revolution put out of their communities 208
§. I. Religious communities deprived of their fervor, and perverted by the lack of vocation and by the spirit of the world that has crept in. What are, in the Church, the dearest souls to Our Lord. Ibid.
§. II. Fervent and regular communities. How far is perfection the religious soul through the faithful observance of vows. Formation of new communities in a very-small number... 226
§. III. On nuns who lead lukewarm lives and imperfect. Causes and punishment of their lukewarmness... 249
(496-500)
§. IV. On avarice and harshness towards poor, more reprehensible still in men and women religious, than in people of the world. Persecution suffered by a faithful religious to his wishes, in a community that rapes them. From how God wants communities to be reformed 255
§. V. The vow of poverty does not dispense with a religious to assist the poor. In some cases They have to. Some rules Practices for keeping this vow perfectly 271
§. VI. Conduct of the World nuns that the revolution forced to get out of their monasteries. Costume they must wear. At this On occasion the Sister reports the circumstances of her exit and the rules of conduct that Our Lord gave him. 283
§. VII. How the nuns who are in the world must observe their wishes. Vows of obedience and poverty. 296
§. VIII. Continuation of the same subject. Greetings from chastity and enclosure. Conclusion on the obligation to tender to perfection, and on the deplorable blindness of nuns who neglect their vows to follow the maxims and usages of the world. 319
ARTICLE V. Some Details of Our Lord's Agony Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives, and on His resurrection. Practical for the relief of souls of Purgatory. Warning that the Sister of the Nativity receives from Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin. 337
§. I. Circumstances of the Agonis of Jesus Christ. Causes of his pain. Greatness of his love for men ibid.
§. II. Resurrection of Jesus Christ and His circumstances. Wonders that took place at the tomb of Jesus Christ at the moment when his soul comes together to his glorious body. Impossibility of explaining and even to understand God's excessive love for men 362
§. III. Practice taught to the Sister of the Nativity by Our Lord, and drawn from his Passion, to contribute much to the relief of the souls of the purgatory. 382
§. IV. Strong repugnance of the Sister of the Nativity to write extraordinary things. Warning she receives at this subject of Our Lord and the Most Holy Virgin. 386
ARTICLE VI. New Details and Supplement to what the Sister of the Nativity had written in The first volumes on the Revolution, its sequels and its progress. Continual trials of the ungodly until the end of the nineteenth century world to destroy faith in Jesus Christ and overthrow his Church. Intervals of peace for the Church, always subsisting despite their efforts. His triumphs, and Vivid conversions among his greatest enemies and among Accomplices even of the Antichrist. Some circumstances of the reign of the Antichrist. His downfall. Fate of its accomplices 392
§. I. Death of Louis XVI. His happiness in heaven ibid.
§. II. Vision and description of a prodigious tree in four large roots, figure of impiety who threatens to oppress the Church. Efforts of the Children of the Church to Slaughter and Uproot this tree. 394
§. III. After quite a long time, the tree is finally dispirited. Triumph and peace of the Church for a time. Converting multiple of his persecutors. Faith expands in several countries 401
§. IV. The four large roots suddenly grow their offspring. Vision of the beautiful tree of the Church and the four trees taken out of the roots of the first.
New assault on the Church, which triumphs over it. 405
§. V. The ungodly hide again in the underground, and compose pernicious books. Their rapid progress and Hidden. Diabolical hypocrisy of their associates. Proud of their successes, they go out of their pensions, and deceive the people by their falsehoods and apparent virtues. Astonishment and affliction of the Church, who assembles into a council and finally discovers their hypocrisy. 410
§. VI. Spiritual Means Employed by the Church in such great desolation. A large number of souls Seduced convert. Rage and spite of Hypocrites; their abominable doctrine. They will consult with their leaders.
Vivid conversions many of Satan's leaders and henchmen, who become saints and even martyrs 423
§. VII. After the conversion of several of them The leaders of the godless assembly are dedicated to service of Satan. He announces to them and promises them as his leader the Antichrist. Abysmal oaths against Jesus Christ. Anti- Christian sworn and signed. Horrible uprising hell against the Church....
437
§. VIII. Terrible and Frightening Fall of the Antichrist and his accomplices 452
§. IX. State of the Church and the World After The Fall of the Antichrist 457
§. X. Circumstance of the Reign of the Antichrist forgotten by the Sister, and which she reports here 460
§. XI. What the Sister experienced in God in relation to at the time present 461
Letters from the Sister of the Nativity, to M. Genêt, and to M. le Roy, Dean of the Pilgrim, her confessors. — Premiere Letter. To Mr. Genêt 465
Second letter. At M. le Roy, Dean of the Pilgrim, to then move on to Mr. Genêt, in England 469
Third letter. To Mr. Genêt 484
Madame's certificate St. Magdeleine, Superior of the Sister of the Nativity. 492
End of Table of Contents of Volume 4.