September 24, 1944
“In the midst of the opposing currents which transversely take on my poor little ship named Maria-John, the spokesman, I, the Divine Helmsman, come to take the tiller and correct and straighten out the varied orientations.
“You, spokesman, balk excessively at all dissemination of writings, both your own and those from other, higher sources. I previously reproached you for this spiritual covetousness of yours.708 The reproach yielded fruit in you, and every time, with the pain of someone feeling a strip of skin being torn away, you have acquiesced to giving others what was yours, for it had come from your mind or had been given you by your God.
“Others, in spite of the fact that I have spoken in this regard on several occasions, have not scrupulously abided by my words. The goad spurring them to do so is good. But it is necessary to bear in mind that the great majority of men, and especially of those consecrated, are not good.
“One should meditate on the fact that excessive zeal can ruin everything worse than a little delay does. When forced, things end up coming apart. And this thing - holy, useful, and willed by God, against your desire - must not come apart; I, who know and am the Truth, say so. But it must not be a whirling torrent moving impetuously, twisting, submerging, devastating - and passing on. It must be gentle water passing mildly in a slight thread and irrigating by nourishing roots slowly without ruining even one stem. A thread, I said. Given with much prudence and in very measured fashion. Given with goodness, without exclusivism, but with dignity. It has been given, however, with excessive haste, profusion, rigidity, and exclusivism.
“Every manifestation of the supernatural is a ‘sign of contradiction’709 among men. The instruments of God are signs of contradiction. But for this contradiction the first ones to pay the penalty are the instruments themselves. I am an example. Those who watch over them ought, with maximum patience and prudence, to see to it that the ‘contradiction’ does not take on violent forms capable of destroying the instrument’s mission with verdicts and impositions which bind his spiritual members and torment his spirit and morale, placing him between God, who wants, and man, who does not want, the work. My instruments need peace. They cannot occupy themselves with anything but their work - that is, what God has them do.
“If you only knew, O men, all of you, what slavery it is to be instruments of God! Holy, but complete slavery! The slavery of a galley slave at the oar. Sleeplessness, hunger, sufferings, weariness, the desire to think of something else, to read things which are not the words of ultramundane sources, to say and hear ordinary words, the desire to be, at least for one day, ordinary creatures and lead an ordinary life - these are all things which the inexorable lash of God’s will keeps them from having and turning into reality. And upon all of this the resentment of men pours its salt and its acid, as if the master of the galley were to make salt and vinegar fall upon the wounds caused by the whiplashes.
“Why, out of excessive love or excessive spite, do you strike my servants, already stricken by the exigence of my will?
“I said,710 and from the outset, that my ‘spokesman’ ought to be left in peace, wrapped in veils of silence which would be lifted after his death. When the prayers and desires of one whom I love and who is pleasing to Me because of his constantly upright intention inclined Me to be condescending, for the protection of my instrument I established clauses and guidelines. I said, ‘Let them act as was done with Sister Benigna Consolata.’711 When I saw that there was excess, that they were grazing in fields where even human prudence said, ‘They should not be touched,’ I stopped all dictations relating to the times and specified that this was a punishment for those pursuing human curiosity and turning even something grandiose, supernaturally grandiose, almost into a peevish game among children who, to tease their rivals, say, ‘I know and have, and you don’t know and don’t have. Look how much I have. Look. Look. I know, I know....’ But this is not child’s play. God’s interests are at stake here and the peace of a heart. Be careful, all you men!
“My ‘spokesman’ - those of you that are close to her know - has always been opposed to every violation of her secret, to every form of exhibitionism, to every proclamation in her favor and honor. She is not a ‘violet’ for no reason.712 If I gave her that name, I know why. She has suffered from certain intrusions and acts of incensing. She does not love incense for herself. She wants all of it to be given to her Master, Jesus.
“At a time when so much of a cross was already about to be placed on her shoulders, out of love for the world, which is to be saved with pain, you, with your imprudence, introduced another torture. That of knowing that the words of God were being strewn in all directions, like precious flowers entrusted to a child, falling even into the hands of those who, because of their own thought or for other reasons, are the enemies of supernatural voices. And my spokesman called you to a reserve, in the name of God’s word, which it was right to observe, in both human and superhuman terms. You then took remedial measures. But poorly. By attacking the opponents. And then denying to a whole group - which, if it has deficiencies, also has lights in its ranks - all contact with what had previously been given and disseminated to all, with no selection.
“Friends and servants - I call you by the sweetest and most honorary name, for to serve Me is to reign and to be my friend is to be preferred - I shall have you see how I acted with the one among my followers who represented the clergy that compromises between God and the earth, the one who made his own profit a king placed above and over against the interest of God, who should have been the king of his life purpose.713 I had hard words, as a Teacher who educates and must even reprimand if he sees an error in his student; but when I saw that the Teacher did not suffice with his authority, I then annulled the Teacher with his seriousness and uncovered the Friend, whose heart overflows with affection, indulgence, and understanding. Hear the words I say to bring him onto the ‘way,’ to bring him back onto the way which is mine. Sweeter, more seductive words could not have been spoken. I tried everything to save him. And the more he fell, the more I approached him. Was I unsuccessful in my aim? It’s true. You will not succeed with everyone, either. But at least charity will be preserved.
“More and more sweetness, my friends and servants, and then more and more prudence and discretion.
“I told you yesterday, ‘If you produce an orderly work.’714 If you produce. I did not say, ‘Do so’ or ‘Do so at once.’ When you produce it - and do not be in a hurry so as not to cause harm instead of benefit - observe the rules I give you and shall give.
“But in the meantime be respectful towards my words from the outset and also, to some extent, towards the wish of my ‘spokesman.’ He, too, has his part in this event. He should be heard and not left aside without mercy, out of excessive affection for his work.
“Do not be in a hurry. The spokesman’s life is short, and time is long. When the secrecy of the tomb protects the one who was the spokesman, you will still have considerable time to go on acting. Do not display human haste, even if it bears a superhuman appearance. God’s affairs mature slowly and last. Man’s, prematurely, and they collapse.
“Do you see? There is a person wishing to know something about the enigma of Agreda?715 Who ruined the truly holy work of Mary de Agreda? Men’s haste, which prompted caution and resentment. It forced a remake of the descriptive part by the illuminated woman. In the part containing instruction the Spirit provided, and its teaching remains the same. What did that remake lead to? Great suffering, exertion, and disturbance in the illuminated woman and corruption of the magnificent primitive work.
“Every describer and prophet is a slave to his time. While he writes and sees (I am speaking of those writing by God’s will), he writes by describing exactly, even in a manner contrary to his mode of seeing, in keeping with his times. He is astonished, for instance, at not seeing one thing or another or at noticing objects and ways of life different from those in his time, but he describes them as he sees them. When having to repeat a whole series of visions without seeing them any more, however, some time after the visions were received, he falls over and over into his own personality and the customs of his time. And those coming after are then dismayed by certain excessively human traces in the sketching of a picture from God.
“Mary de Agreda, in the descriptive part, thus fell into the frills of Spanish humanism, turning the holy poverty in which my Mother lived, her sublime creation on earth, and her reigning in Heaven into a bundle of elements of rutilant pomp from Spain’s royal court in the most pompous era there has ever been. Her tendency as a Spaniard, and a Spaniard of her time, and suggestions by others - who, because they were Spaniards, and of that time, were led to see, dream, conceive of, and transfer into the eternal and supernatural domain what was temporary and human - adorned the descriptions with the tinsel which deforms without honoring.
“It is a big mistake to impose certain remakes! The human mind! Perfect and very imperfect, it cannot repeat something - especially a work of this kind and these proportions - without falling into errors - involuntary ones, but doing harm to what was perfect because it was illuminated by God.
“Why don’t I illuminate the instrument again? For the sake of the instrument, I would. But the incredulous deserve a punishment. I am not man’s servant, but man is mine. God comes, halts, acts, and passes on. When man says, ‘I don’t want this’ and destroys God’s work or skeptically and incredulously says, ‘I don’t believe’ and wants imprudent proofs, God does not always return. And who is stricken? God? No, man.
“For some time I have wanted to speak about Mary de Agreda, for there was a person who so desired and I satisfy proper desires. But I reserved the topic for this time because it was useful that way. I am able to await the propitious moment. Learn from Me.
“I have also given you the pages on my Mother in her infancy and holy childhood.716 And you will ask, ‘Why, then, did You give them to us?’ But could I have my spokesman write this when dead? I could, for nothing is impossible for God, but I would not do so because even this miracle of a dead person writing would not convert the incredulous. I use him, then, while he is alive.
“But you - do not be in a hurry. And be patient and careful, and prudent and gentle. I say so again. If I allow you that are closest to draw abundantly for your ministry and for the elevation of the multitudes terrified by life today, you must never forget, however, that here it is not just your interests, but those of God, that He wishes to have shine forth with his power and wisdom in a creature of his.”
Jesus then says, “Look for and copy the passages in the dictations on this matter. I shall indicate them to you.” And I have Paola, who can testify to this, give me the dictations, only now, when I have finished receiving this dictation.717
In a dictation on July 18, 1943, the Master says, “As for Father Migliorini, I am very, very happy to have him use my words for himself, for his soul, for his preaching, and for the guidance and comfort of other souls, both priests and others. But he must not reveal the source for the time being....”
A dictation on August 23, 1943: “...Go, spread my word. Go with discernment and care. Do not apply it to all in the same way.... I advise you to make a selection of the words spoken. There are passages which for the time being must remain as a sweet conversation between you and others which should be made known only to persons who, because of either their function or their soul are already in a position to be admitted to certain types of knowledge. Others may be offered and disseminated among souls.... Good sense is needed in using my gift. Act as with Sister Benigna. Not an open, tumultuous dissemination, but a slow spreading getting broader and broader and remaining anonymous - for the sake of your spirit, which pride might disturb, and your person, which does not need more agitation. When your hand is still in reverent expectation of rising again in glory, then, only then will your name be cited.... The spokesmen are so rare that I do not want them to be disturbed or destroyed by the world’s hatred.”
A dictation on August 13, 1943: “Let Father Migliorini use what he deems useful in what I say. These are pearls which I give gratuitously. But, among all of them, let him withhold one, the mother pearl. Let him withhold you, regarding whom I am jealous and upon whom I exercise an absolute power of ownership. You are not Maria and must not be known as Maria.... Your personality is annulled.... No one should know you as a writer of my thought, except for two or three privileged persons.... Later, when I will and no one can harm you any more, the name of the little voice will be known. But you will then be where human pettiness cannot arrive and where human wickedness cannot act.”
A dictation on August 15: “Use your writings as follows. The part which is yours will have the usual value of providing information for the curiosity of man, who always wants to probe into the secrets of souls. The part which is mine, which should be separated from yours, will have a formative value, for in it there is an evangelical voice, and this voice always has the value of spiritual formation....”
A dictation on September 10, 1943: “My little John, I entrust my word to you. Convey it to the teachers, that they may use it for the good of creatures.”
A dictation on December 9, 1943: “...As regards the passages [of the dictations - Jesus says passages, not pages or complete pages] it is useless to scatter them as food for reptiles.... I have stated and repeated that a lot of prudence is needed.... Why do you want to satisfy foolish curiosity? I do not dictate what I dictate for your amusement or to bend to your morbid thirst for knowledge of the future.... Upright spirits already have more than enough in what is given for all, without lifting more profound veils.... I have stated - and if I do not weary of repeating my word, I do weary of repeating my commands regarding the spokesman - that only when he is no longer in the world will everything be known about his labor. Do not be eager to make general exhibitions.... With tears of blood, he allows you to use the pages which are entirely his. But he does not want anything else because I do not.... In the dictations you have coffers of gems sufficient to make the world luminous. Why do you want to extract even the diamonds, which only in a few years can be handled without the forces of Evil appropriating them to destroy them? The one who writes is led. But the one who copies must be able to comprehend what should be kept at the disposal of one alone.... Conserve all the work of my spokesman, then, for the hour I shall indicate and give the world’s poor, according to their condition, what should be given. And pray so as not to let yourselves be carried away by humanity in your choice. Regarding current events, Father Migliorini has been able to note the concomitances and can testify. Regarding the rest, I repeat, act as Benigna’s Director did; he was in better times and had less explosive material in his hands.... Do not repeat questions, for I shall not answer. Do not depart from the rule, for I shall not bless. Take your work and give it to the spokesman. He will tell you the points which should not be placed at the disposal of the curious and the wicked. I shall take him by the hand in the choice....”
A dictation on December 13: “I do not speak to satisfy superstitious curiosity or even mere humanity. I am not a pagan oracle and do not want you to be pagans. I will not take away from you, then, the joy of my word on points exclusively addressed to the spirit, without establishing parallels between it and current events or those in the near future. This gap will remain as a warning for many and will last as long as I will. But if there is nonspiritual use of your work, I shall command you to write for yourself alone, and, if you fail to obey, I shall take the word away from you.”
Jesus says, “That’s enough. The passages are sufficient. The others repeat these. Be at peace and inform the person who should know about this.”
708 The writer inserted “June 21, 1943,” a reference to the dictation found under that date in The Notebooks 1943.
709 Luke 2:34.
710 In the dictation on August 23, 1943. Cf. The Notebooks 1943.
711 In the dictation mentioned in the preceding note reference is made to Sister Benigna Consolata Ferrero (1885-1916), a Servant of God, of the Order of the Visitation.
712 A reference to the vision on April 22, 1943, in The Notebooks 1943.
713 A reference to Judas Iscariot, protagonist of the episode indicated in note 703.
714 On September 23.
715 Venerable Mary of Jesus de Agreda (1602-1665), a Franciscan.
716 See note 676.
717 In the selections which follow the writer has included the dates of the entries, which may be found in The Notebooks 1943.
