January 1—“The keynote, Lord?”
“Keep going. Do good.”
January 16—I was thinking of the five percent discounts and I said to myself, “Will we ever be able to get holiness, too, more easily?”
“You can’t compute holiness like a column of figures. A single act of love with absolute abandonment and trust can make a saint even at the moment of death. And how this honors Me! I am like Samson; I lose My power as judge when someone tells Me of his faithful love. Not because the love is so great either, but because it is the greatest he has to offer Me. It touches Me to the quick and I am ready to bend to his will and make it My own.”
January 30—Holy Hour.
“Thank you again, Lord! You seem to go to all lengths to fill my cup to the brim at the end of my life, don’t you?”
“Isn’t that My special task? You see I am Fullness. Everything exists in Me. And those who possess faith drink deeply. But you must believe and hope. Oh, this great quality of hope! Practice it often so that it will grow in you. Don’t you understand that the more you expect, the more you receive? Then expect even the impossible and you will have it. Do you remember that saint who removed a mountain? There are all sorts of mountains and My power is always the same.”
“Then, Lord, may I ask You to be My unique ‘raison d’être’?”
“Help Me to grant you this. There again, we shall be one—you in the striving, I in the grace. What would be simplest for you would be to incarnate My goodness. In a single day you have so many opportunities to do this by your actions, your gestures, your words. Give birth to Me again. Every evening review your day to see if you have given Me life again by you. I’ll add My charm to all you do and there again we’ll be one. You can never know how deeply I desire this. Above all you cannot grasp it. You know all about the redemption and the passion, but can you understand the love of your God—the feeling of this heart? Its intense desire is beyond your power to comprehend.
“Repeat to yourself often, ‘I believe in Your love for me, in Your boundless love. I know that you have loved me with an everlasting love.’
“Oh, My very little child, who has ever lifted love to such heights!”
February 6—Holy Hour.
“I should so love You to be happy in my heart.”
“Your desire in itself is a call that pleases Me and gives Me great honor. You make amends for yourself and you make amends for the ingratitude of so many others. Do they think of Me with a little affection even once a year? Do they accept the thought of My love for each one of them? When will they realize that time—the span of earthly life—is too short, that I need all eternity to love them? That this present life of theirs is not their goal, but only a means given to them to earn the other life?
“Pray for them. You can do a great deal without seeing the fruit. But I see; I hear. I see that in helping others to arise, you rise yourself. Do you believe Me? Come to Me and bring others with you. I know how to talk to them all—to the ashamed and the timid as well as to the rebellious and the proud. Didn’t I say to Saul, ‘It’s hard for you kicking against the goad’? And immediately he surrendered his will and asked, ‘What must I do?’
“Oh, My child, what power there is in My gentleness and in the tenderness of My voice! You know a little about this, don’t you? Imitate Me as much as you are able. If you could only bring all the people around you to Me! Try to tell them that I love them and how much I love them. My love is so vehement that I’ll forgive them everything from the moment they repent. Bring them to Me and I’ll enfold you with them.”
February 13—Holy Hour.
I said, “You made my cup of joy run over last evening. I was lifted right out of myself.” You said to me: “You realize, don’t you, that I’m here?”
“You are never alone. Can you be separated from your breathing, or from the blood that flows in your veins, or from the very essence of your soul?
“So few people live for Me and for others. Once in a while perhaps, and then they return to their self-centeredness. My child, let our two beings be so closely united that the you in you is no longer noticed and all your thoughts come homing to Me. I am your happiness. I created you this way so that you might make your home in Me and so that I might heap My blessings upon you as I did last evening. And once again, My little girl, once again, this is love.”
February 14—In a moment of sadness.
“Remember . . . I traveled all your roads.”
During the day.
“If you want to gain strength to make a sacrifice, don’t look at the sacrifice. Look at My joy.”
February 16—“Now is the time that I veil My holiness and My justice. Do you thoroughly grasp what I’m saying? Now is the time for love, long-suffering, patience, compassion, confidence in what I expect from you: your generosity, your response. That is the true picture of your God now as long as you are on your planet.”
“I implore you, live in My love every single second. I don’t force you. I never force, even with regard to My gifts. You are free to take or leave them. How often your freedom has crucified Me! And so, I wait . . . I wait for centuries. Don’t you realize that I’ve been waiting a long, long time for you? No two souls are alike. None other can give Me what I expect from you.”
February 18—Holy Hour.
“I am more present to you than you are to yourself, but there are moments when you feel My overflow like a high tide of love, and then you say, ‘It is He.’
“How it rejoices My heart to be recognized! What distresses Me is to remain near you like an outsider, almost like someone unwanted.
“Not to be wanted . . . to have to depend on your welcome! I, who would always want to lavish My love on each soul. And how can I, if you keep your door closed to Me? I was going to say, if you look hostile and suspicious.
“Some are afraid that I’ll ask too much of them. If they only knew how happy they would be in giving Me everything in complete and joyous surrender.
“The most beautiful gift you can give Me is your joy in serving Me.” . . .
February 20—Holy Hour.
“Give more importance to the little things. Some are so little that you often neglect to fill them with love. And yet, in My eyes, God’s eyes, do you think there is a big difference between the small actions of your daily duty—your little fugitive moments—and what you call the great events of your life? Then learn the secret of charming Me no matter what you may be doing. This would please Me so much that I should be tempted to thank you. My happiness—isn’t that sufficient reason for you? Do you love Me enough for that? Oh, My beloved child, just think of all that I’ve done for you. Doesn’t that quicken your zeal?”
February 26—Visiting.
“Don’t speak when you should be silent. And don’t keep silence when you should speak.”
February 27—“Do you seek Me? Do you often seek Me? How can you find Me if you don’t hunt for Me? Don’t you look for what you need most? And since without Me you can do nothing, what do you need more than God? As for Me, I love to act for you and through you.
“Together, I and you, My little girl, what can we not accomplish? You will say, ‘Yours is the glory Lord. Yours is all the glory. I am nothing.’ And this will be the reality. But in offering yourself for My service you will have been a tool in the hand of your God. To be His instrument you must let yourself be used by Him at every moment. Your eagerness will glorify Him.
“Just imagine, I am perfectly happy with My Father, yet I can’t do without My children, for My love for them is beyond all their power to conceive.
“And if they consent to leave behind the things of the world to devote all their faculties to Me, even for only a few minutes a day, to keep silence in order to listen lovingly to Me, they force Me, as it were, to take them in Me so that I may share My secrets with them. And My secrets give power by strengthening their faith. My secrets have only one purpose: to bring My children closer to Me. Oh, the beautiful secret that completes our oneness!
“Little girl, always purify your motive so that I may recognize My face in yours. ‘He who has seen Me,’ I said, ‘has seen My Father.’ You remember? May it be the same for you.”
March 6—“Each soul is the object of My special love. That is why I am so grateful to those who are resourceful in bringing back sinners to Me. Keep this in mind, then. I gave My life for them in the most atrocious torture, for these poor beloved ones. A humble repentance, and they are already on My heart. So speak gently to them. Speak with tenderness. A brusque remark could drive them farther away.”
“I’m going to meet one tomorrow, Lord.”
“I’ll give you the necessary tact. As always, I’ll be in you. You will look at Me and call Me, and say, ‘Speak through me.’ I’ll be the listening brother.”
I had just received telegrams and telephone calls for a hundred and one things.
“That’s life, unforeseen events, moving from one place to another, variable weather, rough weather. But come what may, remain steadfastly in My heart. Keep your eyes fixed on Me as you ask Me for advice or as you tell Me that you love Me always. Remember that nothing happens without My permission, and be very serene. There is nothing like serenity for convincing people of the Good. This was My response to the craftiness of the Pharisees. So be calm in your soul and happily docile to My will. As you look back over your life, don’t you see that My will was always for your good? This is because I love you and it’s the same for everyone, since I love each of you individually. I see you all differently; I see every detail about you, you understand? My love is not a global love.
“I need each one of you as though you were the only person in the world, as though the cosmos had been created for you alone, and My love is greater than the cosmos. So let this thought be a strength to you and your smiling calm.
“Let us include My mother in this life of ours. Do you really believe that her love is active on your behalf? Oh, My little girl, have faith in the great things that you can do with us. Without us . . . but you are already aware of your nothingness.”
March 20—Holy Hour.
“You are worried about the passage from this life to the next? But since it is the greatest proof of love that you can give Me, be glad. Offer your death to Me now with complete detachment, ready even for heroism. Say, ‘Even if I didn’t have to suffer death, I would choose it in order to be more one with Him.’ And in this way you will give Me the greatest glory a creature can give his Creator. Oh, precious death of the saints that echoes even in the heavenly courts of the Father’s Home!
“So don’t be afraid of losing your brief life on earth for the eternal meeting with the beloved. And since I’ll be there with you, what a moment of faith, hope, and love! Try to take this approach. And then, as always—simplicity. You are with your Father, your bridegroom. You belong to God’s family. Live, think, love as among your own folk. It will be a sign of love.
“When you give Me a token of your love, you give Me so much joy. If you could only know! No longer to feel a stranger, the one left out in the cold as I am for most people. Gabrielle, get to know Me better. Talk to Me intimately. I’ll place your words like a bouquet of myrrh on My heart.
“Adore My love, My need-love for you. Adore the extremely delicate way in which I share My secret thoughts with you and make you aware of My desires; and try to be for Me a little of what I am for you. You see how awkward I am at asking? Your freedom often prevents Me from saying what I should like to say to you. It’s as though I were waiting for you to discover by yourself what My heart desires. And what is not My joy when you guess!”
March 27—Holy Hour.
I had obtained a very great temporal blessing. “Oh, thank You, My dear friend!” (I was almost in tears.)
“You know how much I love My little children’s thanks. You know too that what is so simple and sincere goes straight to My heart, and during these days preceding Holy Week I’m trying to bring you closer to your Christ who will be overwhelmed with suffering. I would like you to be with Me there. Would you like to try to remain with Me, like Magdalene, with My mother? I want you to think only of Me, suffering for you, and I want you to seek ways of consoling Me. So sometimes I give you a very keen pleasure in which you recognize Me and this fills your heart with love. You are too small to thank Me for a trial so I treat you like the little ones. You see how thoughtful I am? I stoop down to your level so that you may not be overpowered by My immensity. And then you give yourself to Me joyously. I wouldn’t like you to feel compelled to give yourself. Reticence suggests regret. I want you to be cheerful in serving My love. And love is eager to serve. Aren’t you happy when you can offer Me something?
“Today may I express a desire—you’re listening? I should like you to acquire the habit of seeing Me in everyone, in the little daily incidents too. To see Me everywhere would be to think of your Savior always. Make an effort to do this as you commemorate the last fortnight of My life. And do this as tenderly as you can. Your rapports with others will be changed in a way that will charm them. Oh, don’t be afraid of having too much unction. This is the way the good touches. Evil seeks to seduce, doesn’t it? So charm, Gabrielle. It will be I through you who charm. Since you offer Me your humanity I’ll know how to use it. You often attribute something to yourself when it is I expressing Myself in you. The other day, you remember, you said something to X that touched her so deeply that she hid her tears, and you thought, ‘That wasn’t from me.’ It’s clear that we’re together, isn’t it.”
Holy Thursday—“Just as wrong desires are the source of all evil, so good desires are the source of all good. So formulate many of these daily: desires for our oneness, for your purification, for contrition, the desire to meet Me at every moment.”
Easter—“The disciples of Emmaus said eagerly to Me, ‘Stay with us.’ Now it is I who say to you, ‘Stay with Me. Stay with Me, My little child.’ ” (In a beseeching voice.)
At vespers.
“The grace for this Easter: In the future you will live by Me and in Me alone.”
April 10—Holy Hour.
“I am with You dear Lord, in the Garden of Olives.”
“Your fidelity is precious to Me; it’s like a tender tribute. You see My generosity for My children makes it seem simple and as though natural to suffer the pangs of death. But when you are ready to sympathize with Me and to enter into My distress I feel touched to the very heart and I want to make your kindness one with Mine so that when the Father looks at you, He sees you and Me—His Christ.
“Will you ever comprehend My sensitivity, and how your every tender and compassionate thought thrills My heart. But even if you don’t understand very well, even if your love never gets beyond the stage of trial, I always take into consideration the earnest effort of your will and this is My delight. Yes, I mean just that—My delight. . . .
“You see how simply I talk to you about Myself? Humble yourself at such kindness. Doesn’t it spring from love? Of course, My poor little girl, I love the nothing that you are so much that if you give Me permission, I take up all the room in you.
“Lose yourself in Me. Surrender yourself. Fade out of your own thoughts. Enter into My eternal being. Live and move and have your being in Me.”
April 17—Holy Hour.
“I never find you near enough to Me. My Word within you has never spoken enough. I am always thirsty. You are thinking, ‘It’s difficult to satisfy Him.’ But believe that a very little effort, the least gesture of yours, delights Me. It’s like the joy of a mother when her little one expresses himself in a new way.
“The unfolding of My love in you is My personal happiness; I’m waiting for it. Everything that affects you touches Me personally. My friends, you are part of Me and I, your Christ, am part of you. Then why should I alone desire this close union? Don’t you also desire it? You see, it’s quite distressing for a friend to have to say, ‘Love Me. Think about Me. Serve My cause. Give Me your life.’ Don’t you think that the one who loves would prefer to have the other read his sentiments? And when this does happen, he is so deeply touched that the ardent soul would be filled with joy could it but comprehend.
“You to whom I confide these secrets in the silence of your heart, be this friend who believes without seeing, and outreach yourself with the sure knowledge that you have never done too much. When it comes to Me, could anything be too much?
“Look at Me always and give Me the oblation of yourself, My little child.”
April 25—Montmartre.
A light bulb was missing in front of the Blessed Sacrament. “Lord, let my heart burn before You there in its place.”
“To burn would not be enough. You must be consumed. I mean you must burn right out. This is what I did for you, for all of you. Don’t you feel the desire to do the same for Me? This is what it means to simplify everything in you to a single principle, a single élan toward your great friend. Isn’t this restful? Isn’t it your goal? And don’t you find that this changes your entire being? You can see that My call is blessing, can’t you, and that your response will bring you joy?
“O answer! Answer unceasingly. Your strength will increase and you will give it to others so that it will go from soul to soul as a torch is passed from hand to hand. The living spring is your Christ. Drink at the very fountainhead, for the closer you come to the fountain-head the more your cup will run over.
“Oh, My little girl, don’t seek Me far from yourself. You have Me right within you as a candle has its flame.”
April 27—“Tonight when you went to your open window to look at the splendid sky strewn with stars whose light glinted among the flowering cherry trees, you listened to the nightingale of the island and you felt the joy of having so powerful a bridegroom. Oh, may this and many other spectacles in nature increase your confidence in Me.”
May 3—Rome.
Chapelle des Ancelles du Saint-Sacrement
“You don’t have enough trust. Who will give Me this look of abandonment that I’m waiting for? Keep in mind more often that I give you everything for nothing: all My heaven for your nothingness and for the mere pittance of your yearnings. Think of this more often so that your heart may be stirred.”
May 5—Catacombs of Saint Domitilla. At Mass.
“I spoke of your look. Now I’m speaking to you about the way you look at Me: confidence, oblation.”
Rocca di Papa, Cable-railway to Notre Dame del Tufo.
“Reach the degree of intimacy that I’ve desired for you. Make the breakthrough. Enter into the realm undreamed of.”
May 22—(I was going through a series of anxieties.)
“Give Me your trials unstintingly. I may be in need of them to save a sinner, don’t you think? Later you will see all that came from your suffering both for others and for you.
“And now that you accept the sacrifice, don’t you feel freed from the earth, as though ready to take off? And don’t you see how ephemeral everything of time is.
“See everything in Truth. May your whole life speak the language of love, in Me and by Me. And may the moments that remain for you be nothing but goodness and tenderness—the gift of yourself. You remember that evening before My death? Wasn’t it as though My entire being had been translated into love during My Last Supper?
“Be full of indulgence and compassion for everyone. Remember that I called Judas ‘My friend. . . .’ Imitate your bridegroom. Desire to be identified with Him; so many others have striven for this, why not you? ‘Like Him’: this could be your watchword. And it would be full of peace and joy. Wouldn’t I help you? You see love finds it impossible to stop. And when I see the work of a soul of pure intent, I take the heavier end. Tenderly.
“Have faith, and love will follow.”
June 15—Feast of the Sacred Heart.
“Enclose yourself in Me. If you knew who I was, you would pray today for all sinners, those that you know and others too, with all the trust one feels in the Infinite.
“Shut yourself in never to depart again. Be like My cloistered sister; the cloister, you know, is the image of My heart. There’s where you will live—in the midst of others—with such love and tenderness.
“Don’t be afraid to be transformed. Abandon yourself to the strokes of the chisel; everything is for your good. Isn’t My love for you beyond reason. Yes, I love you to the point of doing the good that I want to do to this one and that one by you. You will not always notice this. Sometimes you will wonder, ‘Who spoke then—He or I?’ You know how I have merged with My faithful child? Wasn’t this My desire—to be one with you, with each one of you. Not for just a moment but for your life long.
“Which of you will give Me the joy of being invited to your earthly pilgrimage? Who will say to Me at the end of the road, ‘I should like to live again because of You, and yet I find it sweet to die for You.’
“I have called you to union. My invitation is for every man, woman, and child. Yet few have listened. Very few have responded to the call. Gabrielle, My little girl, consent to this oneness. There is still time. You will console Me and you will make amends for yourself; you will give Me, as it were, a taste for forgiveness.
“Oh, My little ones, created by Me, what power is yours! Let your heart overflow with love and gratitude. What would you find to love outside of Me?”
“I love You, always You, yet I scarcely know you.”
June 19—“Without Me, what are you? And if you want never to be separated from Me, why don’t you try to be more one with Me? What hinders you? You receive Me in your Communion in the morning. What is there to prevent you from giving thanks all day long? You want to love Me in all circumstances, but you are in the world and surrounded by others. Then you can continue to love Me in this one and that one, can’t you? What keeps you from doing this?
“And when you hold a sweet joy to your heart, welcome Me in it. I hide Myself like that. For you to find Me. That’s God’s game. Win. And when you win, be sure of this, that I am the real winner, I, the most sensitive.”
I was looking at thousands of flowers like tiny golden stars and I was thinking of the firmament.
“If people contemplated My creation more often than the works of man, how this would draw them nearer to Me. But they think too much of earthly things. Seek every means of coming close to Me, Gabrielle, not just once a day, but at every moment. You understand? May your life be Mine—uninterruptedly Mine. You breathe, don’t you? Then there I am in your very breathing. Don’t I recreate you? Breathe with My breathing. Always. It’s so simple. And this will be power in you.”
June 21—“If you offered Me your joys and your moments of recreation, I would send you few trials because it is only your union with Me that I am seeking, and as a rule you come to Me only when you are unhappy. Then come—oh, come always.”
June 26—“It’s not the lips that should pray, My little girl; your heart should look at Me and speak to Me. Do you understand the great difference both for you when you talk to Me about yourself and for Me as I listen to you? Always begin by placing yourself in My Presence. Why don’t you do this? Wouldn’t it be balm of Gilead for you? Don’t you love Me enough to be happy with Me? It’s not fear that keeps you from doing this; it’s just the lack of habit, this wonderful habit of remaining in My embrace. Would you like to try right away? Yes, I’ll help you. When you give Me your confidence—it’s then that I enrich you. Oh, this gracious exchange where the one who receives the least is the happiest!
“Haven’t I given you a great deal? Offer Me everything that I have given you so that it may all contribute to My glory—to the glory of love. Everything can be used, even the very tiniest things. It is because I am great that I stoop down to you. It is because I am great that I am avid for you and that I enfold you in your smallest gestures.”
July 10—Holy Hour.
“Are you living for Me? Do you love Me enough to desire Me alone? Don’t look upon money as an end in itself but as a means of procuring My glory. Try to serve Me no matter what you are doing, just as I served you by every manner and means in My life on earth.
“Why do you grow weary of doing good to others? Am I not in them? Would you ever grow weary of helping Me if I were near you? You would help Me joyously, lovingly. You would say, ‘Is there anything else you would like, dear Master? Does that please you?’
“Act with Me as if I were near your eyes, near your heart. And am I not? Then be near Me not only in My outward life, but seek Me also in My inward life turned toward My Father: in the perpetual offering of Myself for you all, in all that I did to make amends for you, in My moments of silence imbued with love, in My humble surrender as Man-God before God, My Father.
“And as I always say, be one with Me. For your encouragement keep in mind that this gives Me a joy you never suspect. Don’t you love to please your friends? Then I, your Christ? Treat Me as a friend. Even this is not enough for My love. Live in Me, for I live in you. Isn’t this alone a reason for loving adoration and heartfelt gratitude?
“Remain very little, close to your mighty one.”
July 24—Holy Hour.
“Which of us is waiting the more impatiently for the moment of intimacy, you or I? Yes, I know that you are thinking about it and preparing for it, that you are coming out of a sense of duty. But I’m coming from pure love. Ask Me for this love as though I were a merchant.”
“What shall I give you in payment?”
“Your gratitude, which will burn like the flame of your joy. What I give surpasses your poor little means and awakens new feelings in you—feelings you thought to be beyond your power to experience.
“This unexplored domain amazes you and proves that it is I Myself who act in your attentive and docile soul. Oh, be attentive to Me! This is a signal way of reaching Me. To be attentive means to empty yourself of everything except the desire for Me. It is then that I come, and the greater your desire for Me, the greater will be the measure of My grace. When someone is waiting for you, don’t you hurry? Don’t you like someone to call because he cherishes you? And when someone seeks you out to talk with you, this gives you pleasure, doesn’t it? I am still more sensitive because I am always the one who loves first.
“Even if you do little, you touch Me deeply. I, a Man-God . . . what delicate sentiments are Mine! Who will be able to feel the heartbeat of My love? Above all, who will know how to respond? Learn day by day, so that the moment will come at last when you will know.”
July 27—During the High Mass.
“Do you think of yourself as one not yet born? Your real birth is your entrance into the other life. Prepare for it. Make everything ready. Recall the life of the humble caterpillar crawling on the earth. Then its secret, hidden life within the chrysalis. And at last the butterfly with its magic-colored wings, flying free in the clear blue.
“Oh, rejoice at the thought that you will soon be born to fullness of Life.”
July 31—Holy Hour.
“Don’t interrupt our conversations by irrelevant thoughts that you could easily suppress. Are they worth as much as the minutes that I give you? Enter into the inner stillness. You will always find Me there since you love Me and keep My word. I come to you and I make My home in you. Even if I don’t talk to you, I’m there. Remain at My feet. Get ready to listen to Me. Make your will one with Mine; this, too, is union. This is how I kept Myself before My Father—‘Your will not Mine be done.’
“This is the sign by which I know those who belong to Me: they leave behind even their own desires to follow Me. These give Me to others unawares, for the Spirit possesses them and expresses Himself through them.
“Ask often for the Spirit to take possession of you. He breathes where He wishes, you know, and all the more on those who call Him.”
August 10—Lourdes.
At the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, I was thinking of a proud answer I had just given.
(With tender pity.) “How your littleness makes you suffer!”
And I remembered what He had told me once before from the monstrance in this same place, surrounded by cardinals and archbishops in rich vestments:
“You see, I am the smallest.” (In the monstrance.)
August 15—In the street.
“I love you so!”
September 9—Lourdes, at the grotto.
“Together, all three of us: I, she, and you. I receive lovingly. She conveys My love. You offer yourself to the utmost of your ability. And the Father sees us.”
September 11—At the grotto.
“Break free of yourself. Take note as to whether even here, you are acting for Me or for you. Cease to exist in your own eyes and focus everything on Me. First and foremost your thoughts, since your actions depend on them. At noon couldn’t you take stock of your inner life in such a way as to tighten the bonds between us? I call you so often. Call Me, so that you may come; it’s not I who fail to come. Ask My mother for the grace to live like her, in our company which is more real than all the visible world.
“Enter, enter into Me. What really counts is the life of your soul, you understand? Everything should be subservient to it. And the center of it should be I, your Christ. All things uplifted to Me, everything for Me, since we are one as I and My Father are one. Didn’t I give the example?
“Oh, My little girl, in this hallowed grotto, give yourself wholly and for always.” . . .
September 18—Le Fresne. Holy Hour.
“Have you really understood that you may come and take rest on My heart? And if you have, why do you not come? It is I whom you deprive. I have to wait, to refrain from insisting, since I respect your liberty. I am with you and I yearn for you. And you would not come? I ask you only to think of this more often so that you will come to Me more often. I’ll give you My love and My patience for your neighbor; you will have a clearer understanding of the fact that he is I, and you will go to him for love of Me, very simply, always with the thought that you are less worthy, like the least among all souls.”
September 25—“Strive for goodness, the goodness that anticipates—plan your kind deed beforehand and add charm to the gift. In this way you will comfort and console.
“What immeasurable harm can be done by a bitter word! I alone see the extent of it. So limit your influence to the most exquisite gentleness and you will obtain more. Remember Me in My life on earth: the way I was with children, with sinners, with the woman taken in adultery, with Magdalene, with you. Am I not infinitely patient and gentle? Be your Christ for others. Poor, weak little girl, I’ll be in your heart when it speaks. Increase your hope by frequent little words of the utmost simplicity, such as, ‘My God, You are my life. You never leave me alone. You are in my pilgrimage right to the end of my dying.’
“I am in the one who hopes, the soul that is full of trust. I look after that one as My brother, as My bride. Have I ever disappointed anyone? Have I been unfaithful? Oh, how I know how to care for My own!
“Abandon yourself to Me; you’ll never regret it. Go out of your depth in the ocean and let yourself be borne up. For the ocean is Myself.”
October 2—I knew He was very near.
“Why are you astonished when I come in like a rushing tide? I should like to do this for everyone . . . What a joy for the beloved!
“Can you imagine what the earth would be like if all men loved Me and did My will? How sweet life would be! Will they ever understand what they lose in hating Me and each other? Oh, scatter goodness and love; above all, scatter it on those who do wrong.
“Keep Me in mind. Imitate Me. Reflect Me, more by your actions than your words. Oh, the beautiful silence of those who act! You remember My hidden life, and the life of My parents? And the influence we had on all around us? Yet everything went on in a quiet way.
“Act . . . and more often than not, keep silence. The power for this is in Me; take it. I am ready to give you everything you need if you ask Me. Why should you be afraid of asking when you have first of all praised and loved Me? I love everything about you, and it’s the same for everyone. Aren’t you all My children that I wanted to save?
“If you realize that your praise gives Me glory, you will praise Me better. Know that your love gives joy to My love; it’s like two mirrors forever reflecting each other. Aren’t you happy to think that you reflect your God? This God, so much yours that He wanted to create you in His image. You see now why I keep on asking you for this unending oneness with Me. Divine longing . . . how vehement it is! How far beyond thought! At least honor Me by acknowledging it. I am thirsty, do you understand what I mean? I am thirsty for you all. Let Me drink.”
October 9—“Tell Me that there are moments when you are sure of Me. This will comfort Me for all the other moments.”
Holy Hour.
“If you would know God, be born to Him. Born in your soul’s depths, quickened by the Spirit. You remember how an angel came to stir up the pool for the healing of the sick? No one knew when this would happen. That’s the way the Spirit comes. So listen for Him, respectfully, lovingly. You know Him, don’t you—this Spirit, this fire with its secret light? This flame of tender goodness that suddenly sweeps through you? Then wait in the inner stillness; wait attentively for His coming. Be like ‘a garden enclosed.’
“This birth that takes place in the depth of your being when you are more faithful than usual, will help you to know the unknowable a little better. Don’t you think that it’s worthwhile making preparation for it? Poor, weak little girl, waiting for the mysterious voice of her Father! Even were He not to come, how sweet to yearn for Him!
“Be aquiver with hope. Light the flame of your joy: He will come. And when at last He comes, let your love and humility melt one within the other like the cloaks cast down along the route over which I passed as I rode into Jerusalem. You will make Me your home then, and everything will be so simple.
“So be born to God that you may know Him, and afterward, fully aware, you will recognize Him. Isn’t it like that already?”
October 17—Paris, Boulevard Raspail.
I was thinking that it was very monotonous to begin all over again every morning to offer my day.
(Briskly.) “Don’t I begin all over again every morning to offer Myself in the Mass? Did I consider that once would be good enough? And is it so difficult for you to give yourself often to Me when I’m always waiting for you? Love multiplies its words without ever repeating.”
October 23—“Lord, I am so very little. Even what I have is only what you have given me.”
“Ask for more. Ask better, and although you are very far from perfection, ask Me for it unceasingly in order to bring you nearer to Me. How many blessings you miss by not asking for them!”
October 30—I had a pain in the shoulder and I was thinking of the weight of His cross.
“Any suffering that you offer Me with love eases My sufferings. You know that I saw everything in advance, right to the end of the world.
“Be glad to suffer if you love Me. There again we are one. Let us work together for the conversion of sinners and the growth of My kingdom.
“Trust yourself to My eyes; they see what you cannot see. Let your intention be to serve My intentions. And this will give you the courage to suffer. My little one, ask Me for this courage. It is always a feast day for Me when you ask Me for something—the beautiful feast of giving you My help. This is life you know—our life, Mine and yours.”
November 9—At Mass.
I was watching someone come in.
“Couldn’t you sacrifice your eyes for Me? Make them look at Me. Put them inside you. Fear whatever makes your thoughts wander away from Me, and go after whatever brings them back. So many things can come from a glance. So many things flow from a thought. You are right in mistrusting your thoughts more than your will. Do everything to keep Me in mind. Center everything in Me. Be conscious of the fact that I control your entire being, since I am in you and you are in Me—two foreheads touching; no, one inside the other.”
November 13—“You are all so ignorant of the power of your God. Are you afraid to know Him, you who seek Him so little? And yet the joy of your souls lies in constant communion with your Creator and Savior in the Christ-consciousness.
“Abandon yourselves to God no matter what He does. Let His breath blow you along, fanned by your fervor. Come to Him eagerly, My child, since He has the answers to all your needs: of tenderness, rest, and intelligence. Your thoughts are short, but at least prolong your desires so that you can reach a higher plane—the new heights where the Spirit is waiting for you to help you to climb even higher.
“And season everything with joy. It adds to God’s glory. Would the father of a family be happy if his children came to serve him in fear, with long faces? When you approach Me, My little girl, be full of joy, like a happy child. You are thinking, ‘He’s always asking me for inward smiles.’ Could you believe that even though I am God I need the smiles of My children, because your happiness is essential to Me? Who can comprehend this? Who can even bear such a thought? But believe. For it is My love that speaks, and you must listen to My voice in a way that you listen to no other.”
November 20—Le Fresne. Holy Hour.
“Do you believe in Me? Do you really believe in Me? Are you sure that I am in you, and that I loved you even to the folly of My cross? Do you remember My kindnesses for the universe, and those chosen especially for you? Go over My favors and see if your life will be long enough to thank Me for them. Tell Me that in every one of these minutes that remain for you, you will love Me with your gratitude, and this will be balm to Me. Your tenderness will ‘pay Me.’
“What then can separate us—the fact that I am God? But I have been man and the law has changed. I came to take away fear and to gather love. Give it to Me. Give for others. If you feel poor, hold out your hand to Me. And it is My heart in your heart that will love.”
November 25—After Communion.
“Your keynote for today: ‘For God and against myself.’ ”
November 27—Holy Hour.
I was returning from a tea at the home of Count S.
“Now forget the world and look at Me. I was pleased that you spoke of the prisoners and their fruitful solitude that brought them nearer to God. Did you notice how the conversation remained at a higher level right to the end? In this you were My instrument. Be so again, often. You see, I have few instruments on the earth . . . Ask the Spirit to guide your mind. Don’t talk out of yourself, but out of Me. Speak in My place.
“My little girl, do you know when you speak like Me? When you put goodness and charm into your words. When you touch hearts. When you give a gracious answer to an acid remark. When you make excuses for someone. When you serve. When you give. When you calm an angry person. When you comfort. When you keep an even temper in all circumstances. When you remain humble without seeking to shine. When you are grateful for the kindness of others. When you are generous. Who was more generous than I? Who more gentle and humble? All this is yours. You are part of My mystical body.”
December 4—“When you have entered into light, you will comprehend. Until then, you will just feel your way in truth: you will be able to take love only little by little; otherwise your mortal eyes would be wounded. But when the eye of your inner vision looks deep into the infinite, you will discover your poverty and you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to God for having stooped down to your nothingness.”
“Perhaps from now on my only reason for living will be to thank You?”
“The way to thank Me, you know, is to love Me. To be one with Me in every moment of life. Never to imagine that you can be there and I somewhere else. Wherever you are, there I am. Oh, My child, what love Mine is! Make it your work to believe. Is that so difficult? Try often and you will please Me.
“Of course. This work can save a sinner as can any effort to overcome yourself. Let this encourage you.
“Think of Me in My human life more often, for in this way you will draw the power to imitate Me. You must take all the means: look at Me, call Me, love Me.”
December 11—Holy Hour.
“My child, even if you seemed to love everything, even if all the affections of your heart were to fade away and you found yourself alone and misunderstood by everyone, I should still be your treasure, your goal, your incomparable friend, your beginning and your end.
“So don’t be upset by anything. Once and for all, place your heart in Mine, in joy as in distress. If I fill your cup to overflowing, I am your peace. If I put you to the test, I am your companion. Nothing ever ceases to flow from Me to you, if you accept Me. Now do you understand a little better the reason you were born? To be one with Me. Begin, begin right from this very moment. Tighten the bonds of union. Ask the immaculate one for this grace. Her heart never left Me. And you, child, never leave Me. Never. I’ll be tempted to thank you.”
December 21—“If I have fulfilled you, it is for the sake of others too. Be ready to pass on to them with love all that you have received. You owe Me this; you also owe it to them. Believe with all your heart that in sharing this overflow of graces you will help many others. A river gives everything to the sea, yet it always swells anew. My little girl, don’t you see, one can never give too much. Step outside of your self-center. This will be a new way of coming to Me. Try to see Me more clearly in those around you and your entire association with others will be transformed. You often feel sorry that you were not alive when I was on earth so that you could have been with Me. Be fully aware of Me in those around you, and, without stopping to contemplate Me, serve Me in them. Later on you will be glad of this.
“Remember what is written in the Gospel: ‘Lord, when did I take care of You?’: ‘Every time you took care of your neighbor.’ And how true it is that these charitable acts bring you closer to Me. Who can bring you closer to Me if not Myself hidden in the other person? O wondrous theme of love with all its variations: ever on the alert to please Me.
“Ask the Father to give you many more opportunities of pleasing Him. Isn’t it a joy to be pleasing to God?
“He has everything He wants, yet He has your hearts only if you care to offer them to Him. You see, there is always this respect for your freedom.
“So go to everyone without partiality. And since it’s for Me, give them your whole self. Go to the very outermost limit of your kindness. Why stop halfway? Scatter kindness on everyone alike. Am I not unchanging? Don’t I scatter My sunshine and rain on the just and the unjust?
“Widen your smile as you did yesterday. It glorified Me. My very dear little child, I’m counting on you. I’m waiting for you—already giving you all the grace you need, the grace I want you to make use of so that those who meet you will meet Me.”
December 25—“You mustn’t be afraid of aiming at perfection, since I am with you and I have lived it, and since it gives Me great joy to look after you. You see, you are not alone; you have Me.
“You remember how you used to love to see a team of horses harnessed in arrow formation. I’m at the head and you’re following, at a little distance—but you are following. The good thief on the cross understood love and cried out his repentant sorrow. A few moments later he was resting in My heart.
“Love calls to love. Answer Me, child. I am thirsty for you. What intimidates you? Your repeated neglectfulness? Your deficiencies, your vagueness, your absentmindedness, your distressing memories? I take charge of everything. I collect miseries and make glorious things out of them. So give me everything. Since we are one, could you be bold enough to say that there is something in your life that could not be for Me?
“Did you understand this Christmas grace? Not to leave My mother—neither her nor Me, no matter what you’re doing. We are worthy to go with you everywhere, aren’t we? Could you ever be ashamed of us? When you were a little girl you were ashamed to be seen with relatives who were poorly dressed. My little child, understand that we are your wealth, your success, your salvation. Welcome us in whatever you do, as one welcomes power and charm. Do us the honor of placing us above all your friendships and ambitions, and be faithful to the grace that calls you to so close a union.
“At Bethlehem do you think that Joseph could forget his two treasures for a single instant? His whole heart was centered on them. Be like him. . . .
“Sink down deep into the thought of My humility as a little child. I became humble for your sake.
“Would you like to come to the manger every day for lessons? Every day right up to the Purification? I give you a rendezvous there. Call it a rendezvous of love.
“My love wants to bestow on you My adorning jewels. These are My virtues and they are so powerful that even the worldly admire them. But you must let yourself be adorned. You must turn your will to your highest good.”
December 31—After Communion.
“The keynote for 1948, Lord?”
“Very close.” (An invitation to union.)