January 1—In my bedroom at three o’clock in the morning. “Happy New Year, my Christ. What is the keynote?”
“Confidence. Flow over into Me.”
January 4—Holy Hour.
My mind filled with a hundred and one things.
“Tell Me that all of it is for Me. I was for you at every moment of My life. I came for love; for love I saved you. I had you in mind in everything that went to make up My days. So don’t do anything outside of Me. Even if you consider that it has nothing to do with Me. Everything has to do with Me. Don’t shut Me out; never shut Me out. At every moment I am ready to receive you. If you were not ready for Me, you would lead Me to think that I was not your intimate friend. Am I no longer that?”
“Oh, yes, You are; You are my great and beautiful love.”
“Then talk to Me in love’s simple language. Warm your heart and seek to warm Mine, just as though you were afraid that I was not tender enough and by calling Me gently you would arouse My love. And this would really be to lure Me to My task. Bliss is yours if you believe this.
“So go right to the limit of your loving thoughts, your desire to love, your sacrifices for love’s sake. Prolong them. And go valiantly since it is for Me, your Christ who loves you—should I say to the point of folly? Because you see ‘the folly of the cross’ is a reality.
“You’re not very sure of this, are you? There is always this distance that you put between God and His children, whereas I try to remove all distance. Oh, My beloved friends, come to Me more simply. I always make the comparison of the little child who throws her two arms around her Father’s neck. Do you need so much ceremony to love Him, to thank Him? Don’t you see that the Father gives more tenderness than He receives?”
January 8—I said to the Holy Spirit, “Speak to the Father for me.” And our Lord replied,
“He is in you, speaking to the Father.”
“Isn’t there a little of me?”
“There is the earnest effort of your good will.”
February 1—Holy Hour.
“Don’t be astonished at My suggestion that you never cease asking for compassion, humility, and gentleness. Aren’t these the hallmarks of your bridegroom’s heart and shouldn’t you try to resemble Him? Wouldn’t you be happier if you had these qualities? And isn’t it always your happiness that I’m seeking? . . . Ask My mother to give them to you and offer sacrifices in exchange. Plant the seed of desire for them. And as always, ask Me to help you.
“How happy a father is when his child who cannot yet walk holds out his arms to him. And if the child is tired, how he holds him to his heart! Who is happier, the father or the child?
“If you only knew what compassion really is—the compassion you must strive to imitate! Overlooking everything to stoop to a heart’s needs, paying no attention to any disappointments or ingratitude, being even kinder to those who have hurt you. Just be your Christ for them. If you make this your intention I’ll be seen in you. You are so little that you wonder how this could be. You know how grace gives unction to the voice, the look, a gesture? You noticed that yesterday when your relative who had not seen you for three years exclaimed, ‘Oh, how I love you!’ She was addressing Me in your voice.”
“Lord, I hope people will always find flashes of You in me.”
“Then disappear more and more, My little girl. I am your infinite ocean; flow over into Me. It is so simple for you to lose yourself there. Since I’m waiting for you. One will only—Mine. A single goal—the Father’s glory. A single declaration—‘I love You with all the strength of this heart that You gave me.’ That’s all. And the Father takes us together as a single offering. One only: I—you.”
February 8—Notre Dame. Holy Hour.
“Even if you ceased to love Me, I should always love you. Even if you no longer listened for My voice in the silence, I should still make it possible for you to hear Me. This is how every sinner finds Me waiting. Who could ever weigh My love, or set a price on it, or measure it? And who could ever dream of the immensity of My tenderness? For My love is tender. When you hear Me say, ‘I am thirsty; I’m calling your tenderness.” . . .
February 11—After Communion.
“If I were only sure of comforting You, of giving You pleasure in doing this or that, such a thought would increase my strength tenfold.”
“If what My children do for Me or say to Me is the kind of thing that would give joy to an ordinary man, it gives Me far greater joy, for I am the most sensitive, the most loving, and the most gentle.
“Don’t get the idea that you are speaking to a memory, a past ideal, a remote God. You are speaking to Me, fully alive in you. To your ever-present Presence. And when you speak to Me or My mother, speak with a loving smile. You know that special welcome of yours that people admire? Give it to Me. Come to Me alive with joy, serenity, and tenderness. It will transform our relations. It means an effort on your part, but how consoling! Don’t you find it so? It’s like family life. You see, what I’m always seeking in My people is this life of intimacy with Me.”
February 15—Holy Hour (gently).
“It doesn’t bother you too much, does it—this hour that you give Me? I’ve been waiting for it as for a festive occasion. When you are invited to a banquet, don’t you enjoy it in anticipation? The invitations from My children are all the more dear because they are so rare.
“Have you noticed how some people are overlooked on the list of invitations? Out of sight, they hear only far-off sounds of the banquet. Perhaps it’s a stranger, or somebody not popular enough to be invited. It often seems to Me that I am one of those. So when in the midst of your activities you stop on the way to your friends, I feel like thanking you and saying, ‘I, too, may I come?’ ”
“O Lord, my home is always Yours.”
“You must tell Me that often. It is heartwarming for Me. Give this joy to your Lord God, little child of His. Tell Me all about your desire for Me and I’ll make it grow. Even if you don’t desire Me, tell Me so I’ll give you the desire. And I’ll make it increase to the point where you will long to leave the earth to meet Me. Tell Me that you want to possess Me and to be possessed by Me. Quicken your love; this is your daily work. Then take courage to renew your courage every day. You know that I’m helping you. Tell Me that you know it. These little ‘acts’ of faith and trust are My joy. I like you to be able to recognize Me even though you are blindfolded. What happiness it gives Me when you say, ‘It is He!’
“There is your work on earth. Teach it to others and you will make Me loved. Do you understand? You will ask them . . . I seldom ask; I wait. You be My apostle and bring them to Me—all of them. If they will just take a few steps, I’ll go all the rest of the way.”
March 1—Le Fresne. Holy Hour.
“To know that you love me so much could make me die of joy, couldn’t it?”
“It’s not enough to know about this love; above all you must have faith in it. How much comfort people would find and what happiness even in the midst of trials, if they only believed that everything that happens to them comes from My desire to do them good and that all is fitted to the measure of each one. Instead of that some think I am spiteful toward them, and they plot vengeance against their God. It would be so simple and so heartwarming for them to contemplate My immense love. But they no longer recall My passion. And wasn’t it the proof of this other passion, this love I have for you all?
“Little soul, let it be very simple for you to believe that I love you more than you have ever been loved. Come to this wellspring of My love; come, draw living waters of constant union and levitating joy.
“Ponder these words: He and I. Live them. I and you: I in you. So often you imprison Me in your hearts by the two bars of the sign of the cross, and in the tabernacle in the Eucharist. Where else would I prolong My life on earth if not in the hearts of men, at least in the hearts of those who open them to Me. They called Me. They called Me night and day. And I came. And I made My home with them.”
“Lord, my heart will always be your home. I should like to engrave on it, ‘Home of Rest for Him.’ ”
“In My Father’s House you will discover the answer: ‘Home of Joy for My Gabrielle.’ Oh, practice believing it over and over again, and be overwhelmed with happiness as you think, ‘I am loved.’ You know, don’t you, that as you have believed so you shall receive. And from these feelings born of your confidence new favors will come to help you rise higher. Rise to union? Higher, still higher: to unity.”
March 15—Holy Hour.
“Lord, yesterday I was tempted to skip my daily visit of thanksgiving for the Host I received in the morning.”
“Why? Did I love you less that day? Didn’t I give all of Myself as usual? Was I less rich in compassion? Or perhaps you don’t realize what joy My children’s little visits give Me? Especially when they come to see Me and not the architecture or the beauties of the church. When they speak to Me as to a friend, not in recited prayers. When they humble themselves before Me and in their own eyes.
“And you, My little instrument, may you never get the idea that you merit My favors!”
“Lord, let me rejoice in them, above all if these favors can help bring about Your kingdom. I think of myself as being the pitcher of water in the arms of that man in Jerusalem. It was a sign to the apostles, showing the way to Your beautiful ‘Upper Room’ where You instituted the Holy Eucharist.”
“I have filled your little soul to overflowing.”
“Lord, let the blessings shower upon others. May not one word be lost. Just to think . . . a word of Yours!”
“You will see the effects of My tender love. Don’t you know that I give far more than you expect. Haven’t you noticed this spiritually, materially? Then be sure to look upon Me as the companion of all your moments. Just now in the garden you said, ‘Are you there?’
“I am always there, ready for any little word of your heart, ready for a wish, a smile.
“You wanted to praise My soul, and this was fitting. For My soul suffered most among the souls of men and that is why I have the highest glory in heaven. Do you know why I suffered the most? Because I had the greatest capacity for love.
“Will you at last believe in My love? Very simply, every moment, no matter what happens? And with the greatest joy?”
“How I should like to, Lord! What is there in my brain that keeps me from being absolutely certain?”
“Call Me by the tenderest names. Names like wings beating upward, and you too will mount upward.”
In the street I smiled at a passerby who returned my smile.
“It’s like that when your heart smiles at Me. I smile back.”
March 22—Holy Hour.
“You have just been to see a very sick friend and you were full of pity for him. What will you say to your great friend when you see His sufferings? Look carefully at them because they were for you. They are yours. Be humble enough to hide yourself in them. Say to Me, ‘Have pity on me. I am nothing but a poor sinner.’ Believe it, and I’ll be moved to pity.
“Consider your nothingness. If you could see it, you would be terrified if you didn’t know My tender mercy. Try to grasp the poverty of your soul, its destitution. The you in you is nothing. This vision of yourself as you are would be terrible for you if you couldn’t count on My merits. Make this your consolation at this time of My passion. Look upon Me and discover My obedient death, accepted with the sweetness of My entire being.
“My little children, if you could have read My soul! Some day you will understand better. Love now as though you already knew. Try. Give Me your childlike readiness.”
April 12—In the station at Angers. Coming from Paris I had a seat in spite of the dense crowd.
“You see what great care I take of My own. Even in the tumult I draw them into solitude where the heart is on the alert to hear the beloved.
“Didn’t I say to them in the past, ‘When I sent you out without purse or staff did you lack anything?’ And they answered, ‘Nothing.’ ”
“Lord, it is often I who am lacking.”
“For these omissions humble yourself, and don’t be astonished by them. Wish to be cured of this lack of carefulness in My service. Take frequent stock not only of the value of your actions, but above all, of the value of your motive in doing them—the forthrightness of your will to glorify Me.
“Perhaps if you paid attention more often to what you do for Me, you would intensify your fervor and tenderness. You would be more faithful in the details—these precious details that can earn so much. They are the specks of goodness that fill life . . . You get the picture—the invisible grains of sand that make up the immense Sahara. Take great care in the very little things, My Gabrielle. Say to yourself, ‘They are made to the measure of my little nature.’ And this thought will keep you humble.
“Have you noticed how often the work of the humble has to be done again? Put all your heart into it, knowing that you please Me. And since you want to live for Me, since you want to see everything in relation to Me, and pattern your life after Me, then consider how short the time is that remains for you on earth. You can give Me glory in that time. Give it to Me unstintingly.”
April 20—Le Fresne. At church.
I had seen flowers of all kinds at the edge of a ditch.
“You see how insurgent the spring is! Let a springtide of love in your soul blossom out in good deeds of every color. I shall look lovingly at them just as you looked at the flowers in the underbrush. Tell yourself that love alone can make fresh wonders spring forth.
“Then give yourself to love so that love may possess you. Don’t divide yourself into two—one part for you and the other for Me—since I long to have all of you and cherish this hope. Your love quenches My thirst. I am most demanding: you see I want My children to be wholly and utterly Mine at every moment. So don’t withhold a thing. Don’t take anything of yourselves away. You would steal from Me if you did, because everything is Mine.
“If I require this of you it is because My yearning for you is a consuming fire. And My yearning is born of My love. Do you understand? Do you at last believe? Do you acknowledge My power to love? And if Mine is a love beyond all others, then how could you fail to go beyond your usual ways of loving to make your home in the higher realms—the realms where all is simplicity in our oneness. Above all when you know that it is there that I’m waiting for you and that great is My need to meet you.
“Meditate on this need of Mine and you will call to mind that it is in your power to give Me these alms. Then remember the value of a free gift—the gift of oneself when offered out of tenderness. What inexpressible joy will be His who receives it. He will multiply His blessings so that the one that receives them will be lost in wonder and gratitude. ‘What have I done to deserve the kindness of my God?’ he will ask. And I shall reply, ‘You loved Him with all your strivings and you let Him love you.’ ”
April 26—“Lord, Your poor little girl, Your poor image, is here before you, yearning for You with all the strength of her being.”
“Have you noticed how people talk among themselves, discussing all their personal affairs? They spend so much time this way and it does them so little good. Don’t you think that if they gave themselves to Me, their friend, I should rejoice to have My place in their thoughts and I should know how to reward their confidence munificently? Don’t you think that it would create a moment-to-moment intimacy between them and Me, and this would be a joy for them, because close to Me their lives would lose their tension.
“You understand? It would be life together with Me—I carrying the heavy end of things. So again I say, speak with Me, My little ones. Speak with Me. And our hearts will merge. Isn’t this the aim of My Christians? Isn’t that why you want to die? Then begin by living this heart-oneness. Seize upon every opportunity. Find every pretext. You aren’t bold enough. For some of you it is because you are indifferent.
“But My close friends, why, why don’t they call louder to Me from their heart’s depths? If only their belief were less like unbelief! If their hope were fixed upon My help . . . And if, in all simplicity, their love loved Me more. I should be there looking after everything in their day, and when night fell, their eyes would close again on My face.
“You know what it is to sleep that way—within My embrace? Would you like to learn better? Remember, it’s a question of beginning over and over again. Of trying to grow. Of taking great care not to be satisfied with yourself. But ponder often on your poverty. Tell Me about it and My heart will be all eagerness to help you since you are so little, so weak. And when you call Me, be sure to give Me the most tender names. I’ll recognize the voice.”
May 3—“My beloved Jesus, I come to receive Your word and above all Your love—Thursday, this day dearest to my heart of all the days of the week.”
“Enter into my courts. Ask the help of My mother. Go farther, still farther. Leave material things behind. Go right into the most secret shrine. There, where there is silence, the freedom of inner knowing, the flame that burns to burn more brightly.
“Then ask the Spirit to brood over you as He brooded over the waters before the end of Creation.
“By yourself you are chaos. Do you fully realize this? Do you try to keep it in mind? Have you humbled yourself today in thought or deed? Not to cause you distress nor diminish your strength, but to tighten your hold on the power of your God, who is only waiting for your call.
“And now, possessed by the Spirit, what else could inspire your words but love? Tell Him, the Spirit of love, to speak for you. Don’t you think that it will be in the simplest, most delicate way? For the Spirit also adopts the language of the little ones. Wasn’t My very humble mother overshadowed by Him when she answered the angel, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord’?”
May 10—Ascension. After Vespers in the empty church.
“Lord, I rejoice for those in heaven. But the Ascension is sad for our planet.”
“Make a fervent novena for Pentecost together with My mother and the holy women in the Upper Room. Not so much to be comforted by the Comforter, but so that He will teach you how to comfort Me. Earnestly desire to know how to console Me. Make use of this most gentle way of loving, as though you offered Me a new home with rare flowers and perfumes where a wealthy friend waited for frequent meetings and confidences.
“It is your heart that wants the hearts of all men to be Mine. It is your heart that wants to find warmth close to Mine. Then if you have a clear understanding of the Ascension, you will try to follow your beloved and live less for the things of your planet than for His home in heaven. So don’t fail to begin doing now what you will do tomorrow: join in the praises of the all-joyous ones, your brothers of tomorrow.
“You remember that in spite of the fact that I rose from the Mount of Olives, I remained in the midst of My apostles, hidden in the Eucharist, in the heart of My holy mother. Could I have deserted My poor children completely? You, My child, seek Me always in the Eucharist. It is there for you, for everyone. Don’t be reticent. Come simply. Give thanks with joy in your heart. Love simply. Everything is so simple with Me. Don’t you notice this when I speak to you? Leave behind your old way of imagining. Enter into the way of love’s clear vision.”
May 24—“Endure the daily thorns for love of Me. This prepares your soul for acts of heroism.
“You realize, don’t you, that union with God is nothing more or less than doing His will. Every human being is called upon sooner or later to rise to some act of heroic goodness, and grace for such moments is won by loving acceptance of the daily burdens. So you see how valuable the little routine tasks are to one who gives himself to them in loving obedience to Me. Haven’t I told you that in My eyes nothing is small? It’s the love woven into each task that counts.”
June 7—“As I am never at an end of My words for you, I hope you will never give up listening to Me. The hidden fountains of the heart’s depths are given drop by drop; each one is of the greatest value and not one can replace another. And because I give you My secrets, I wait for yours. Yes, I know what you want most to confide: ‘Lord, I don’t love you as I want to. Make it possible for me to love You more.’
“This suffering of not loving Me enough—offer it to Me in pure reverence, straight from your heart. Offer it often. Don’t grow weary. I’ll heal this poor suffering of yours. Perhaps by sending one greater still, one that brings with it a piercing ecstasy such as you have never known. ‘O precious wound!’ is the cry of those who have felt it. Haven’t you often asked for this Seraphim’s dart?”
“Lord, may I not die before it pierces me!”
“Humble yourself to obtain it. Sacrifice yourself. Keep looking at Me. Do your utmost to tune in to My thoughts. Approach love, and love will take hold of you.”
June 28—Holy Hour.
. . . “Avoid the little faults. Ask Me to help you to see them more clearly, in their true light, like a window in sunshine. You will not dare to repeat them; you will be on the watch not to hurt Me. And when you notice that you have done wrong, you will ask Me to forgive you. My heart has seen everything and is ready to forget because it listens to your words of distress and humility.
“Oh, the power of repentance! The sacrifice that pleases Me is a cleft and contrite heart. Such a heart I do not despise. So be My very little one.”
July 2—“Lord, may each of my visits bring joy and peace to others. But am I pure enough?”
“Who is pure? There are only sinners or those who have been purified. Woe to people who pride themselves on not yielding to a temptation that never bothered them.”
July 25—Le Pouliguen.
“My helper? You can be. By accepting events that are the expression of God’s will. By sunny submission—your smile adorns your soul; I always look for it in all your dealings with Me. It’s like love moved to tenderness, like a caress during an effort of the will. When you smile, your work wears a diadem.
“And your way of speaking to Me . . . Don’t you get a feeling of serene beauty when I speak to you? Then let your answer be like the echo of My voice. This will be another chance to imitate Me. Don’t miss a single one. It takes so little to make you climb one degree higher. And degree by degree you come to a deeper knowledge of God. You climb for others as well as yourself.
“Live graciously in your inner shrine. If you knew that you could always find a very dear friend there, you would not hesitate to go to see him often, would you? Well, you know that I am in you every moment. You don’t even have to ask Me, ‘Are you there?’ So just come often, full of love, and throw yourself at My feet. And I’ll take you in My arms.
“You must really believe I’m in you. You must get to know My love and abandon yourself to it. If someone said to you, ‘Do what you like with me,’ wouldn’t you take the utmost care of him? And I! What wouldn’t I do for those who give Me their whole self?
“I want to help you to grow in Me. So leave yourself to Me.”
August 12—Le Fresne church.
“Of course, even in a season of dryness when life seems to have lost its savor for your mind and heart, I take you. Don’t resist; just let yourself disappear in Me. You’ve seen something floating on the vast ocean at the mercy of the waters? I am the Waters. I am the Immensity. Can you see where I’m taking you? What else is there for you to do but to set yourself adrift on Me. Hope that your course may bring Me the greatest glory. Hope to be balm for My heart. Haven’t I the right to privileges, to your favors? To be the chosen one, the most beloved of all?
“When you say to Me, ‘Beloved Jesus I give you my entire life,’ do you realize that at the same time I’ve given you more, since even what you are giving Me is what I’ve given you? Admit that everything you have comes from Me. It’s all a gift from Me, not to display My power, not chosen at random, but by My most attentive love—chosen especially for you, My children—for your path in life, in order to help you to reach the goal that is yours.
“You have everything you need to perfect the Gabrielle I dreamed of in creating you. Did you watch Me creating you? You see you can have no idea of the tenderness that I pledged to your soul so long ago—from all eternity. Then I ask you not to consider Me exacting if I say to you, as I do so often, ‘Give Me everything.’ ”
August 19—Lourdes. Rosary chapel.
. . . “How much I need you to be sure of Me. Do you feel My warmth? Quicken the fire of your love with Mine. Ask for everything through My mother. She is so good, so attentive in caring for your souls. If only you knew! You don’t know her well enough. Give yourself to her without reserve, like her little Jesus. And think of your role: to be as one alone among the crowds. Alone with Me. Nothing exists but your Christ. Look upon the distractions of the passersby as no more than the branches of trees swaying in the breeze.
“Come to Me directly. Isn’t that the shortest way? I am so eager to have you. Your influence will be transformed. And how could you be indifferent to this influence which is like the aura of your soul? Didn’t I have Mine? And My apostles? Saint Peter’s shadow had healing in it. If you could only heal the wounds of those who come near you! Ask Me for this. Ask My mother.
“My little girl, so dear, so dear, will you let Me live again on earth in you?”
August 21—Departure from Lourdes.
“Why should you be afraid of losing Lourdes in leaving it? Am I not always with you, helping you, arranging circumstances so that you may keep your resolutions? . . .
“Don’t let your eyes wander from Mine. Now that you understand better, don’t stray from My loving look. Do you know what this is: God looking at you—you looking at God with His eyes? In this way you will make amends for so many other glances—yours and those of others. And how can one ever express the love in a look? Your poor love looking at the poor Lamb of God, who is all humility, tenderness, and compassion. Weigh these words. Live them. Love them. These words that I give you on your last evening in Lourdes.”
August 30—“Lord, I should like to take care of You as You take care of me.”
“My child, to love Me is to take care of Me. I don’t seem to need anything else. But great is My thirst for you. Perhaps you think that I say this often. But My longing is ever new. Love never repeats, you know. It finds in itself the eternal notes of its music. Take care then to comfort Me, very simply: a glance, an inward smile, even a movement of pity for My sufferings, or a prayer for sinners.
“Child, give Me your life.”
“Lord, you already have it.”
“I want it unceasingly, like a fountain springing upward, like a symphony that never ends. Every effort for Me. When you hold back a word, when you put on gentle manners, when you do something against your own will, when you humble yourself, when you forget a discourtesy, when you sacrifice a pleasure to help your neighbor. Everything for Me. What true happiness, My beloved little girl! There will be only one music—we’ll turn around on My record, you melodious with Me, I in notes flowing from you.”
September 6—Holy Hour.
“Take and read. Take from My heart and read love. Do you know how to read love? With the eyes of ardent desire and the most loving simplicity enlightened by the remembrance of what I said through the prophets, the gospels, and My intimate friends.
“Read love and read the call, for love always calls. A call is like arms outstretched to enfold. Wouldn’t you give Me the joy of letting yourself be enfolded? And what do I want if not you in all your wholeness—your entire being. You understand?
“Then you mustn’t refuse Me. No, not anything. Try to be the one I desire, the one who keeps Me company in her heart joyously and leaves Me only to find Me again in her daily duties.
“I am everywhere for the one who seeks Me. He lives with My life all the time he is living for Me. I possess him so that he may possess Me. How could he get along all alone? Haven’t you recognized My help at certain moments? Isn’t your way through life more joyous and safe when God possesses you?
“O come close, come purely to the all-Pure.”
“Lord, I never cease to long for You, and yet I never cease to be indifferent.”
“And it will always be like that, My poor little girl. The weakness of your nature causes you to fall, and it’s the humble effort you make to get up and go on, the effort to please Me that charms your beloved. And this is a joy, a joy for God. Isn’t that strange? Later on you will see. Later on you will understand.
“Believe in that ‘later on.’ ”
“How can I believe, Lord?”
“With your heart. For if I am often a joy for you, be sure that you are very much of a joy for Me. Think of this; it will help you to drop anchor in My boundless compassion, and it will give you more assurance of the goodness of your God—His perfect goodness, which never ceases to flow to you.”
“Lord, make me like this for my neighbor.”
“I’ll be your Self-Expression.”
September 12—Holy Hour.
“Don’t you think that if you were to spend this entire hour of adoration repeating the words, ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’ you would not be wasting your time? For My will is all love. It is out of love that you ask Me for it, and when the sum of all the love on earth is greater than the sum of hate, that will be a step forward. Hate is not from heaven. Hate is the very breath of hell.
“Love, My dear little girl, not only those who are kind, but those who would snub you. Try to counterbalance the fearful weight of opposition to My desire for kindness and love. Very few are My truly loving friends—those who love Me for the sake of My love.
“During these days of family reunion you understood how tenderness leads to joy, to happy understanding. Let your mind reach out in the same way to the whole human race, which should be just one big family, and see the peace that will come from this, while on the contrary . . .”
“Lord, I should so much like to get this peace for the whole world.”
“Pray. Show an example of heartwarming love. You remember how good My mother and Saint Joseph were to all those who received them during their travels. Long afterward people remembered their visit. They left a wake of blessings all along their way.
“And haven’t you received wave upon wave of light?”
September 20—Le Fresne church. Feeling utterly empty, I was a little frightened at the thought of what I was going to write.
“Why be worried, since I am the one who is dictating? Do you think you would have been able to put down anything all by yourself? My poor little child, you must be sure of Me in you. Perhaps you do not seek often enough to live within My aura—the aura of the lover, the mighty one. Yes, that’s what I am: this joy.”
Friends had come a long way to enjoy the moonlight as they dined on the terrace.
“During these two hours of poetry that seemed to pass so quickly, it was I who led your conversation to the life beyond time.
“Don’t ever be afraid of pronouncing My name. Am I not the greatest of friends? You call Me your most beautiful love, and you are right. Then let Me look after everything in your short life. It will not go on forever, since the end does come. So cherish Me as a miser does his gold. How this would increase your charm, and through that very charm, your influence. It is I who go from you to others. I love to find channels.”
“Lord, make me a faithful and ready channel.”
“Examine yourself often. See if you play the part I have assigned to you with regard to others. I mean, the role of giving Me to others.”
“Lord, it is always very imperfect.”
“But you don’t know. You don’t know what goes on inside the one to whom you are talking. Can you see a soul? Can you see My grace? Oh, don’t stop in your working-drive for Me. One day you will see the result. Be the faithful little servant who works all the better because she has secret converse with her most loving Master. His is not a love like any on earth. It’s a love of flame and of fire. Then don’t be amazed to feel your faculties alight, and to find that after this converse you have risen to a higher plane of consciousness by the route of the joyous ascension.”
September 27—“Do you understand the appalling ingratitude of flying from Him who loves you so dearly?
“Find your happiness in serving Me, even in the very smallest details. Nothing that is for love is little.”
“Lord, how can You be touched by such weak things from Your weak creatures?”
“Haven’t I been your brother? Don’t I know human nature and the life of man on earth? You are so used to picturing Me as the God in heaven that you forget how I toiled, suffered from cold, heat, hunger, just as you do. But I was always more afflicted than you.
“When the last day comes and you look for Him who on earth was the poorest and most tortured of men you will recognize the Son of Man and you will understand why He received the greatest weight of glory.”
October 4—I had just finished a delicate piece of embroidery only to find I had made a mistake and had to begin all over again.
“Didn’t you say to Me as you were sewing, ‘This work or another, what does it matter to me, since everything is for You?’ Show Me that you meant it and that you can take it all out and do it again for love of Me.
“Show Me that you are remaining flexible in My hand and that even if the foundation on which you are building falls apart, you are not less happy in Me. You see, you must never consider yourself, but only Me and My loving will, which is sometimes to test those I love.
“Do you fully realize that you need trials in the spiritual life, our life together. Life on earth is not yet the life of heaven. It’s only love’s beginning. Love grows in trial—even in the very little ones, but it doesn’t notice this; its hunger is never satisfied. What joy it gives Me to help you! . . .
“Come along with Me then, keeping close, and we’ll talk together. You will hear Me, and humbly you will translate My words into daily living. I know how to take a soul captive. I don’t speak in vain. So just work together with Me since I’m leading you to the Father.
“My little girl will grow, not by herself but by Me. I go on creating you. In our intimacy this evening before you go to sleep, when your heart is close to Mine, won’t you give Me its most tender thanks?”
October 6—I had repeated the gold embroidery work on the Benediction veil, and I thought of showing it to friends, a little out of vainglory.
“Isn’t it enough that My eyes see it?”
October 18—“Come before My face. Now unfold your soul. Stretch it out like a fabric remembering your stains. Yesterday’s and today’s. You show them to Me without saying a word, and yet this is a prayer. You are humble before the display of your wretchedness and this is the most eloquent of prayers. The voice of the just rises day and night and how can his cry be anything but humble? You see that even your shortcomings can bring you closer to Me. Use them; you can transform them into the love that makes amends, the love of contrition. Everything should lead to love. In this way you will meet Me. And won’t I have gone more than half way along the road?”
November 22—Thursday.
“I am like a child who has been waiting all week for this day to come. You come to me and you love Me. For an hour we are all in all to one another, forgetting created things to such an extent that if an angel announced the end of the world, the message would make no impression on your mind and you would remain at rest on My heart.
“You, too, do Me the honor of waiting for Thursday as for a festive occasion—the celebration of My heart. Summon up all your powers to love, to hope, and to believe. Tell Me how helpless you are and I’ll fill the emptiness so that as you live, you will give the impression that it is I living in you.
“I love to live My life again on earth through My children. If you knew how few allow Me to do this!”
“Lord, my body and my soul are your home. May all my powers be used for Your glory.”
“Then do something to atone for your self-love and the self-love of others. To make amends should be joyous, you know, since it heals and since it is for love. It is sin that is sad—the continual tendency to self-love that often makes you forget your God.
“O try to exchange self-love for God-love. No longer think of yourself at all. How this would lighten you! And what a new entry into Me! For I am eternally new. I am the infinite one, and it is for the Infinite that you have been created.”
November 28—Holy Hour.
“Why do you doubt, you of little faith? Am I less great than yesterday? Could My love ever fail? Do I love you for what you are worth? Or as always, for your poverty? Does love seek its own interests? The love of a God! Haven’t I taken you as you are, with all that you know of your weaknesses? Then why, after so many free gifts, should you doubt My merciful goodness? Haven’t I told you that justice is for later on?
“Close the eyes of this fear that paralyzes you and throw yourself into My arms. I am the very gentle Shepherd; you know that I’ll give you rest on My heart. What matters most of all is the fusion of our two wills—‘on earth, as in heaven.’ No refusal then. Perfect acceptance, not forced, but with tenderness and from the desire to be more than ever united to Me. Don’t you think this would help you to win your daily sinner more easily? Because you see, the more you are one with Me, the smaller you are in yourself and the greater you are in Me.
“Come close to your heaven. Heaven is our oneness—your mind in My mind. Begin, My child, my very own.”
December 13—Holy Hour.
“Say this: ‘Right now I offer You all my power to believe, to hope, and to love’ and I’ll take it. By dint of saying this to Me, you will make your heart an altar of reconciliation both for yourself and for the world. And in My sight it will be like Noah’s rainbow that joined earth and heaven on its two buttresses—man and the Man-God forming only one figure.
“You feel very small and very much alone. Noah, too, was very small and alone on the earth and yet God allowed him to save the human race. One little lonely soul, lost among the people of the earth but united to the Son of God in the fullness of His blessed will may, through His compassionate heart, become an instrument for the uplifting of others.
“Then gather up all the powers that I have given you. Bind them together and surrender them to Me. I’ll use them as My own.
“What are you but a heap of good intentions? And to whom should you reach out if not to your Source? Do you know anyone greater than God? Have you another friend like Christ? And after so many proofs, how far have you advanced? What is your response? When will your love begin? Don’t you feel how flickering and feeble it is? When will you quicken it to a luminous, steady flame? Don’t you think that in your place someone else might have held the torch better?”
“Yes, Lord, I have never deserved any of Your favors. Change me.”
“Change yourself by patiently beginning over and over again. Watch and pray. You do pray, yes, but pray in another way, seeing everything through Me, full of confidence, with a sense of your poverty. Then I’ll help you, My poor crippled little girl, paralyzed by so many weaknesses from birth, and you will travel along new paths. You will leave behind your old slavish attachments, for My yoke is gentle. You will no longer be the one you serve; Christ will be the one you serve. What a difference! And because you will serve Him and not another, weaving Him into the very warp and woof of your day, He will call you His bride, He who was your servant.”
December 27—“If you have to make sacrifices to reach Me, don’t worry about them. I’m in you. I’ll shoulder their weight. If you find no words to express your love, keep silent and I in you will speak to Myself. If you can’t keep your thoughts on Me, come back to Me as soon as you notice this, gently, without bitterness against yourself. Since I can put up with you, you can surely put up with yourself. Transmute this into an opportunity of being humble. Oh, never miss one of such blessed opportunities. My little girl humble . . . What a joy for Me!
“You understand, I see all that’s going on inside you. I can fathom you. Don’t parents see right through their little child? And I . . . Shouldn’t that hearten you? Shouldn’t it help your inner life? I’m at rest in your soul.
“At the beginning of Creation, God walked in the Garden of Eden and talked with your first parents. There was God and there was man. Now it is the God-Man, and He is in you, still nearer, since He took on human nature. What oneness, My child! Think of it. If you understood better, your heart would melt with love.”
“Lord, give me the grace to understand better.”
“Ask Saint John to help you. It’s his feastday today. Although I left him on the day of My ascension, he went on living with Me right to the end of his life on earth. Ask him for the tender faithfulness that won so much light for him. And trust.”