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Basic Prayers • Rosary • Inspired • Saint Charbel House • The Mass • The Pieta
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"But I want to teach you the perfection of
detachment. A perfection which is not a single event which, when
overcome, does not present itself again. But it is perfection which
presents itself hundreds and hundreds of times in life. Or, rather, in a
year or a month of life. Consider the sum of eternal graces coming
therefrom. It is being able to detach oneself from one's human way of
thinking.
"What is human thinking composed of? Half, of resentment; a
quarter, of hypersensitivity; and the other quarter, of selfishness.
Does a neighbor graze us with a corolla or a feather? Oh, to the
extremely sensitive human self that being grazed is more than a
whiplash, more than the point of a gladius penetrating and searching!
Egoism then explodes: I am the king, and I don't want offenses of any
kind. I rule and don't want resistance to my will.' And hypersensitivity
and merciless egoism then breed the resentments which do not fall way
and attachments to one's own ideas. ...
"Do you see my Son? He is
under the cross, with the crown on his head. But He does not think of
Himself. He says, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over Me, but over
your sins."
That is enough. Go on following Him to the top.
Maria Valtorta - The Notebooks - 1944
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Jesus says:
"To every soul that loves Me I say, 'Make your heart an altar
on which your love is fragrant incense before my holiness.' But to my beloved
ones I give a more specific command. Because I want you to be perfect. I
want this out of love and out of justice. Every gift demands repayment.
I have given to you beyond measure. You must give to Me without
measure.
"Understand the way I want you to be, under the metaphor of the
biblical alter.
"How should your heart be an altar for perfume? Made of precious
material on the inside and on the outside and in every part of it.
"In the acacia wood there is concealed the meaning of preciousness,
incorruptibility, resistance, and lightness. This wood, precious because
it is not abundant and has special characteristics, was endowed with
these qualities. Precious because it was scarce and rare in trunks that
were so sturdy that they could be squared into blocks a meter high and
half a meter wide. Incorruptible under the action of water and woodworms
because of its hardness, which increased as it aged, as the color became
more precious, very gradually changing from the shade of a bright straw
yellow and getting darker and darker until looking as black as ebony.
Very resistant, then, to the deleterious action of humidity and
woodworms, it was particularly employed for those objects which, in view
of the use to which they were put, had to be protected against wearing
out quickly. First of all, the sacred objects. At the same time, it was
lighter than other kinds of wood that were less resistant, but much
heavier. Suitable, then, for use in objects that, when necessary, had to
be lifted up and carried out of respect.
"Your heart must be like this. Precious because it is formed by
love and by union with God and by generosity in love. Incorruptible
under the deleterious action of sensuality and temptation and Satanic
treachery, the three woodworms of the soul, for generous love and union
make the fibers of the heart incorruptible under disintegrating action
coming from outside. How can anything else enter a heart that is full of
Me? How can corruption enter into a place which is pervaded by Him who
in all eternity has never known what corruption is? How can Death enter
the place where the Living One has his dwelling? "Your heart must be
very hard, very strong, and very resistant. A block over which the
adverse forces slide in futility, like the wing of a fly. You belong to
God. My seal is upon every fiber of yours. No other sign should be
there. Become sturdier and sturdier in love and union to make your heart
more and more resistant to all that is not your God.
"At the same time, let it be very light. Not imprisoned by any root
of humanity, not weighed down by any materiality or by base conventions.
Never degrade your spirit and your faith with pettiness. They are two
heavenly realities and must be conserved in a supernatural atmosphere.
"I have given you much so that you will give much to Me. I have
taught you much so that you will serve Me with wisdom. Do not forget
this.
Maria Valtorta - The Notebooks - 1944
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