RATIONALISM AND UNBELIEF

INTRODUCTION
"It cannot be that a prophet perish outside Jerusalem," said the Master1 . For "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, and in his own house.2" But since "No disciple is above his teacher, nor is the servant above his master. . . . If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household!3" . And as it was for Christ, so has it been for His disciples and prophets down the ages, as He foretold. And so does it continue today. An unprecedented number of prophetic "voices" have been raised up in our day throughout the world, warning of dire consequences to come from man's unbridled rationalism, materialism, and hedonism so rapidly escalating in recent years. But just as Israel of old disparaged, ridiculed and often assassinated the prophets of "doom and gloom" sent to warn them in their day: so too are the prophets and "voices" of our day -- the many mystics sent to warn the world and the Church, the new Jerusalem -- disparaged and ridiculed for their "doom and gloom" warnings of God's impending wrath. And no less than their predecessors and their Master before them, today's prophets too are assassinated: not as crudely, perhaps, by physical death. But more subtly, cunningly, yet as effectively: by assassinating their character. Repeating the pattern played out in ancient Jerusalem, such character assassinations are typically carried out by the "priests, the doctors and scribes" in the Church today. Christ's fatalistic prophesy of this is truly appalling and damning: "It cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem.1" And thus has it happened to so many of those chosen today to warn the Church and the world of our times: from the Visionaries of Bethania, of Akita, of Nuju, to the six of Medjugorje -- to cite but a few of the better known. So too did it happen to Maria Valtorta in her lifetime. And so it continues to happen to this great modern mystic, this prophetic "voice" acclaimed by the Marian theologian Gabriel Roschini, OSM, to be one of the greatest of the 18 great mystics of the Church.4 Valtorta's phenomenal and voluminous life of Christ and the Virgin Mary: The Poem of the ManGod,5 which she always and adamantly insisted was in no way her own work but was revealed and dictated to her by Christ Himself, earned her the scorn of many during her lifetime, especially among the clergy of her native Italy. And sadly, she knew the scorn and censorship of the Holy Office as well. This latter, despite the explicit directive of the supreme authority of the Church -- the then reigning sovereign Pontiff, Pius XII -- and in clear violation of Canon Law which states that there is "no appeal from a decision of the sovereign Pontiff."6 Yet here a subsidiary Office of the Vatican overturned a papal directive and imprimatur!

Pius XII had read most of the original typescript of Valtorta's Poem..., and having summoned three theologians of the Order of Servites of Mary to a private audience with him, he had said: "Publish this work just as it is; he who reads will understand. . . . One hears talk of so many visions and revelations. I do not say that all are true; but some of them could be true." Fr. Corrado Berti, OSM, the theologian appointed to annotate Valtorta's mystical writings with scriptural references and theological clarifications, was one of the three OSM theologians summoned to the private audience with Pius XII. He carefully recorded this papal directive in his Testimony shortly before his death. Yet it is the Holy Office's invalid censorship of Valtorta's Poem of the Man-God that is always invoked in attempts to denigrate Valtorta's Work, rather than the papal imprimatur given it.7 This censorship of the Holy Office was the last and greatest anguish Valtorta endured before her death in 1961. But shortly after Volume I of The Poem appeared in English in the U.S., in 1986, the denigration began all over again, this time in the U.S. And the earlier Italian disparagement and invalid censorship by the Holy Office of the first edition of her great Work was regurgitated -- again primarily by the U.S. clergy -- without ever citing the prior approval of Pius XII, nor the fact that the Holy Office itself had subsequently reversed its decision and approved publication of the 2nd edition of the Poem. Why? Why always this closed-minded a priori prejudice against anything of "private revelation." Prudence and discernment, of course, are always required where it is a question of special charisms, but "prudence" pushed to the point of ridicule and even open hostility has rather become grave imprudence and ingratitude for God's initiatives of grace. And this despite the fact that the Second Vatican Council, in its Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium, clearly defines this charismatic function as that other means which the Holy Spirit uses in the Church -- besides the sacraments and apostolic ministry -- to sanctify the faithful. (No.12) So again, one is compelled to ask: Why? Why always this closure, this a priori bias so typical especially of the clergy: "the priests, doctors, and scribes" of the New Law, against any claims to private revelations? It is precisely this "Why" that Christ Himself addresses in the presentation given here. A composite of four separate Dictations given to Valtorta by Christ under the dates indicated, the material offered here is taken from Valtorta's other collections of mystical revelations: her Quaderni del 1943, & ...1944 [Notebooks for 1943, & ...1944], and was translated especially for this Website. If this answer by the Master Himself to our "Why" helps the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak and perhaps even praise the Lord, it will have achieved its end. -- Translator

[August 2, 1943]8 [July 18, 1943 ]

JESUS : "Say, Maria, to your [spiritual] father, who asks for a sign to persuade his confreres of certain truths which cannot be denied, that I give them the same answer given to the Feasting Rich Man: 'If they do not listen to Moses and to the Prophets, they will not listen even to One risen from the dead.'
9 10 11

If they do not listen to the voice of their conscience, inspired by Me, which shouts its indisputable and truthful warnings, if they suffocate under their incredulity that remnant of sensitivity which lingers in them, how do you want them to hear other things? If they do not bow their foreheads before the reality that strikes them, and neither remember nor understand nor admit anything, how do you want them to believe in a sign? They also deny Me, even if they say they do not deny Me. They are the 'scholars' and they have suffocated the beautiful, holy, simple, pure capacity of believing, under the stones and bricks of their science, too soaked with earth to be able to understand that which is not of earth. Ah! Maria! How much sorrow has your Jesus! I see that dying which I have sown at the cost of My own dying. But not even if I should appear would they believe. They would set in motion all the tools of their science in order to weigh, catalogue, analyze, the marvels of My apparition. They would display all the reasoning of their culture, disturbing prophets and saints, in order to quote -- wrongly and in a manner that suits themselves more -- to quote the reasons for which I, King and Lord of Creation, cannot appear. Just as twenty centuries ago, so also now, it is the simple, the children who would follow Me and believe in Me. The simple, because they have the same heart: virgins to rationalism, mistrust and pride of the mind -- babes. No. I would not find in My Church the capacity to believe. Or rather, in the great army of My ministers, I might find some soul that has known how to preserve the highest virginity: 'that of the spirit'. O holy virginity of spirit! How precious, dear, beloved are you to My Heart which blesses and favors you! O holy virginity of spirit who preserve the whiteness of Baptism for the souls that possess you; who conserve the ardor of Confirmation for the souls that preserve you; who maintain the nourishment of Communion for the souls that abandon themselves to you; who are the Matrimony of the soul with its Jesus, Master and Friend; who are the Priesthood which consecrates to the Truth; who are the Oil which cleanses in the last hour to prepare for the entrance into the Dwelling that has been prepared for all of you! Holy virginity of spirit, who are light for seeing, sound for hearing: how few know how to preserve you!

See, My soul: There are few things that I condemn as severely as this rationalism which rapes and desecrates and kills Faith -- I say Faith with a capital, in order to say true Faith, absolute, regal Faith. I condemn it as My assassin. It is this very rationalism which kills Me in hearts and which prepares and has prepared very sad times for the Church and the world. I have cursed other things. But none will I curse as this. It has been the seed from which have come other poisonous doctrines, and others, and still others. It has been the treachery which opens the door to the enemy. It has in fact opened the doors to Satan who has never reigned as much as now, since rationalism reigns. But it is said: 'When the Son of man will come, He will not find faith in hearts' . Therefore rationalism does its work. I will do Mine.
12

Blessed are those who, as they close the door to sin and the other passions, know how to close the doors of their secret temple in the face of the science which denies, and to live, alone with the Alone Who is All, to the very last. Truly I say to you that I will clasp to My Heart the unfortunate man who has committed a human crime and repented of it, provided he has always admitted that I can do all. But I will turn the face of a Judge to those who, on the basis of a doctrinaire human science, deny the supernatural in the manifestations which the Father might want Me to give. A man born deaf cannot hear. True? One who has his eardrums broken by a mishap has no sense of hearing. True? Only I can give them again their hearing with the touch of My Hands. But how can I give hearing to a deaf spirit if this spirit does not let itself be touched by Me?... One of the greatest sorrows I have is that of seeing how rationalism has infiltrated into hearts, even into hearts that are said to be Mine. It would be useless to let the other priests share in such a gift [of His revelations to Valtorta -Trans.]. It is just among them that one finds those who, while preaching Me and My passed miracles, deny My Power, as if I could no longer be the Christ capable still of speaking to souls who languish from lack of My Word; as if they admit My present incapacity for a miracle and the power of grace in a heart. No. For now, whatever I say should serve for you and your [spiritual] father. . . I am very, very satisfied that he uses some of My words for himself, for his soul, for his preaching, for the guidance and comfort of other souls, priestly or not. But he should not reveal their source, for now. . . .Therefore let him guide himself. Let him draw on and inform himself of My sayings for himself, for all, but let him seek above all to enkindle charity in hearts, even of his confreres.

Less science and more charity. Less books and more Gospel. It is light in souls, because I am Light. Disencumber all to make room for the Light. . . . Your spiritual Father says they [his confreres] are earthly, inaccessible? He says too little: they are an earthly enemy, and it is a great sorrow for Me. To believe is a sign of purity as well as of faith. To believe is intelligence as well as faith. One who believes in purity and with intelligence distinguishes My Voice and gathers It in. The others equivocate, debate, criticize, deny. And why? Because they live from their heaviness and not from their spirit. They are anchored to the things they have found and do not consider that these are things that came from Me and which have not always been seen correctly. And even if they have been seen and written correctly, they have been written for their times and have been badly understood of the future.These others do not think that I can have something else to say, suited to the needs of the times, and that I am the Ruler of how to say it and to whomever I please, since I am God and the eternal Word Who never ceases being the Speech of the Father. I attempt the last trials in order to inflame the souls that are no longer living souls, but automatons endowed with movement, and not with intelligence and charity. My work -- from the beginning of this century, the last of the second millennium -- is a miracle of charity to attempt the second salvation of the human race, especially of priestly souls without which the salvation of many is impossible. I substitute Myself for the empty pulpits, or the pulpits blaring words without true life. But few are those who are worthy of comprehending Me. Few even among My ministers..."

[May 21, 1944] JESUS : They will drive you out of the synagogues. Yes, the hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering worship to God.
14

13

"Not only will they drive you from the synagogues -- and by these I understand all the social positions in which you could have honors and service. You will be persecuted for My Name and for your fidelity to It even in the spirit. Not because whoever persecutes you does it from his sincerity of zeal for Me and My worship. But because -- and I am speaking especially to you, My mouthpieces -- because the words which you speak are such that they clash with the majority -- and among
15

these, especially that part of the majority that should be the best -- and therefore you become for them an object of hate. I am not speaking here for all believers, for whom there will certainly come periodic persecutions by human power seized with satanic fever. But I speak of the special persecutions for all my favorites on whom there has been imposed, besides the sweet cross of My Love and of My Will, the very bitter cross of hate and human malevolence. Oh! If you knew how the world hates you, My favorites! It hates you as it hated Me. And there are in the world -- with double guilt -- the descendants of the ancient priests: their successors. Few among them have true faith. Rationalism with its doctrine makes them barren, and egoism blinds them and brings them to hate. Therefore they accuse you of being heretics. But do not be downcast. The world ends with the day of your birth. Then there will open for you the Gates of the true World, eternal and good, because [it is] the World of God. I love you, O My beloved ones. I thank you. I bless you and with Me the Father and the Spirit. Because by serving Me, you serve the eternal Trinity, and It kisses you with Its rays of love and surrounds you with Itself to compensate you in an ineffable manner for all the sorrow which those who misunderstand God give you. Go in peace, Maria. And give Me your tribulation and your desolation. It is not that you are alone. It is that I have need of this your pain. A little of Gethsemani for love of Me."

[July 20, 1944] JESUS :

16

"Already it had been said even in the time of the ancients: 'If God gives peace, who can condemn?'
17

And yet those doctors [of the Law] who always accused Me, and who knew to perfection the words of the Book, judged it differently. Why? Because they knew the Law in its letter, but did not comprehend the spirit of the letter. They are in every way like the doctors of today who, with ridiculous and cruel pretexts, judge and condemn My favorites, and Me with them.
18 19

For Zacchaeus, too, they had used condemnation. God had given peace to His repentant servant who was returning more to the house of his Father, than of his Master. They condemned Him and His servant because, according to them, Zacchaeus's form of repentance was not enough. Naturally! It did not have those hypocritical forms, wholly external, which they, the Pharisees and Scribes,
20

loved: forms used to deceive the world with a false holiness which was only a sham, because the inside was and remained infected with their vices. Zacchaeus's was a true repentance, from his heart. I have said: 'It is from the heart that those things come forth which contaminate a man. ' But from there also come forth the things which sanctify him. From this tabernacle which contains, as in a golden pix, your spirit in which God incarnates Himself and resides through a spiritual transubstantiation, there come forth good thoughts, right intentions, the firm will to be saints, the heroism which gives you Heaven, the sincere repentance which cancels from the mind of God even the memory of your faults, and brings you to Him and He to you for His Fatherly kiss.
21 22

For My favorites, too, the Pharisaic world, always existing and working, judges and condemns: 'This is a "voice"? It cannot be. What has she done to merit it?'
23

'Nothing and everything,' I answer. Nothing, if one considers her wretchedness with respect to the power of God and His perfection. Everything, if one considers her generosity which is wholly given to God, and to God alone: a generosity working under the humility of an ordinary life, loving even to the point of consuming her physical strength, obedient in the great and in the little things, even in the trifles for which I ask, in order to keep her always docile to My desire and to try her continually in meekness. Believe that only she who loves 'with her whole self ' can, with a smile, give her life to God Who asks it of her, give it like a fruit which she brings to her lips:the sacrifice of a parent, or of a holy affection: or like the word which I tell her to keep silent, or [the sacrifice] of her house and her bread, as [also] of her rest which I tell her to cancel in hours of profound weariness, in order to continue to serve Me. If I give her peace, who will be able to condemn? Condemn what? That which God judges worthy of blessings and caresses now, and of bliss hereafter? Condemn the good which she does to herself and to others? Imitate her and do not condemn her. And be ashamed, O useless servants, O Satanic blasphemers, for no longer knowing how to serve the Lord your God; for no longer knowing how to receive, to understand and to speak the words of the eternal Spirit; for no longer knowing how to make yourselves bread for the souls of your companions, but rather: coldness, poison, chains. Condemn what? The way she speaks or writes? Oh! see, O angelic spirits, O blessed possessors of Paradise! observe these little men: being unable to raise themselves up in flight anymore with the broken or missing wings of their own mind, with it they judge that others cannot do so! Observe these blind moles who, being unable to see the sun [themselves], deny that it exists and that others see it! Observe the songless crows who, unable to repeat the harmonies that others have learned from Heaven, deny that voice even exists!

But there where the wings of the little bird enamored of God are insufficient, the angelic wings rush down and lift it to that height which I will. I -- I Myself, the Eagle of love, and I will show it this beauty which you hardly know how to imagine, which seems to all of you but a fable. And you hide your own incapacity under an avalanche of words whose point is this: 'Paradise has no description because it is [only] a thought.'
24 25

It is a thought? It is reality! Speak, My little bird, you who have been raised up There between the wings of the Eagle Who loves you, and say whether Paradise is only a thought -- or a spiritual reality, a reality of light, song, joy, beauty. Say to these who have their wings dragging in the mud -- because their idleness has broken their wings and reduced them to dead limbs -- tell them what it is that merits Paradise, and how sorrow, poverty, sickness are to be greeted with a smile, thinking of this Place where endless Joy awaits them.
26

The Sun, which you can hardly see behind a thick curtain of clouds, given your sensuality of the flesh and of your thought, your rationalism which has crushed in you all capacity to believe with the simplicity of children and the firmness of the martyrs -- the Sun which you can no longer contemplate because you do no longer succeed in lifting your head from the heavy yoke of your humanity which overwhelms your spirit -- while My blessed ones, stripped of every human constraint, stand with the head of their mind always raised to adore Me -- the Sun - and It is [truly] there, that Sun: It spreads oceans of light and fire to clothe with warmth, and to reclothe with splendor these friends of Mine for whom I have prepared an eternal throne. The Sun is There, and It is already theirs, for It shines above their head like the face of a father over the cradle of his baby, and there is nothing sweeter than this loving, jealous, protection of Love which does not leave them even for one minute.
27

You [men] who no longer know how to sing your harmonies to God, you no longer even know how to tell Him that you love Him: not with your mouth, but with your heart -- and it is this harmony that God wants to hear from man -- do not then deny that these, My lovers, can repeat supernatural harmonies, learned from Me and from My saints. My lovers have made their spiritual throat pliable, warbling without tiring -- either from the passage of time or the adversities of life -- warbling their hymn of love, and of all the things that have given them their cue to tell Me: 'I love You.' They have thus been capable of learning and retelling the songs of Heaven.
28

Oh! bless them, these [little apostles] who unveil to you points and lights, who bring back to you lights and words which your poverty does not know; these who, with a total slavery of love have been fastened upon a gallows which, like Mine, has its base fixed in earthly mud, but its summit in the Azure Blue of the sky. They are bridges by which you can go up -- you who know only how to crawl -- by

which you can go up and know how beautiful is that Azure Blue, and be enamored by It and have the desire to imitate It. Why do you all want to deny, why do you want to say to God: 'You are not allowed to do that'? The apostolicity of the Church did not end with the Apostles. It continues with the lesser apostles. Every saint is one of them, every 'voice' is one of them. And I, Head of the apostolic Church, can choose and spread everywhere these My little apostles for your good. They are humble, compared to you scholars? And what were the first twelve? Fishermen, illiterate, ignorant. But it was them that I took, and not the scholarly rabbis, because since they [the twelve] were conscious of being nothing, they were capable of accepting the Word; while the rabbis saturated with pride, had no capacity to accept It. Humility is what I seek, and if these [little apostles], even while remaining loving, pure and generous, should become proud, I would abandon them without fail. There are two things that I absolutely require in them: love and fidelity to the truth -- and not only to God-Truth, but also to the virtue-Truth -- and also: sincere humility. And I am still more uncompromising on this [latter virtue]. Pride, the sign of Satan -- the first sign of Satan -- sends Me away in disgust. Therefore think that if I give My peace to them [My little apostles], none of you can condemn them. They are beyond your condemnations. Within My arms they love and listen to the secrets of God and then offer them to you according as God wills, in order to throw you a necklace of Paradisal pearls which may be a guide and ladder for you to Heaven. I give you My peace, My 'voice.' Rest in it as a baby in the bosom of its father."
29

NOTES 1. Luke 13:33. 2. Matthew 13:57. 3. Matthew 10:24,25. 4. See Gabriel M. Roschini, O.S.M., The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta, Kolbe's Publications Inc., 2464 Forest, Sherbrooke QC Canada, JIK IR4, 1989. 5. Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the Man-God, trans., Nicandro Picozzi and Patrick McLaughlin (Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, 1986-1990), 5 Volumes, hardbound, $35.00 U.S. Distributed (among others) by Saint Raphael's Publications Inc., 31 King St. W., Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, J1H 1N5, and in select bookstores in the U.S. See also links to other Valtorta Sites given on this Website. 6. Code of Canon Law, No.333.3

7. For documentation on The Poem's controversial history vis-a-vis the Church, see elsewhere on this Website: The Church and Maria Valtorta's Poem of the Man-God. 8. Maria Valtorta's, I Quaderni del 1943 (Edizioni Pisani / Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Via Po 95, 03036 Isola del Liri [FR], Italia, 1985: 236-238; 219-220, passim. 9. Fr. Romuald Migliorini, O.S.M., was Valtorta's spiritual director at that time. 10. "...his confreres...", that is, Fr. Migliorini's fellow-priests in the Order of the Servites of Mary. Evidently Fr. Migliorini's confreres were very skeptical regarding Valtorta's claims to the Divine origins of her revelations. Such inherent skepticism and incredulity are, unfortunately, typical of most clergy and even many religious. This tendentious attitude toward "private revelations" is undoubtedly due in large measure precisely to the intensely rationalistic and cerebral formation of priests in their seminary years (and usually perpetuated by themselves after ordination). It also probably stems from a perceived threat to their priestly authority. Their a priori prejudicial attitude thus leads them virtually to deny in practice that other means which the Holy Spirit uses in the Church -- besides the sacraments and apostolic ministry -- to sanctify the faithful: namely, the charisms given to the faithful. This charismatic function in the Church is clearly defined by Vatican II in its Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium (No.12). 11. Luke 16:31. 12. Luke 18:8. 13. Maria Valtorta, I Quaderni del 1944 (Edizioni Pisani / Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Via Po 95, 03036 Isola del Liri [FR], Italia, 1985): 363-364. 14. John 16:2 15. "My mouthpieces" [Italian: "portavoci"]: that is, Christ's Visionaries and Prophets of today through whom He is speaking to the Church and mankind in this century. In this instance, of course, it refers particularly to Valtorta. 16. Maria Valtorta, I Quaderni 1944: 513-517. 17. Job 34:29. 18. "doctors of today": that is, the theologians and scripture scholars of today in academia and the Church, usually boasting doctoral degrees. Their typical response to Valtorta's claim to private revelations, or that of other Visionaries, is usually a barely concealed disdain and incredulous dismissal. 19."My favorites": As will become clear, Christ is referring here once again to His chosen Visionaries and Prophets of today, His "mouthpieces", with of course special reference to Valtorta. 20. See Luke 19:7. 21. Matthew 15:10-11. 22. "Transubstantiation": Note that this is also the technical word with which the Church has traditionally understood and described the miraculous change of the bread and wine at Mass into the actual Body and Blood of the living and risen Christ through the words of Consecration pronounced by the priest. 23. "This is a voice?..." Although the word "This," Costui in the Italian, is masculine, and thus all subsequent pronouns referring back to it, "voice" is feminine and obviously this paragraph and the following ones are specifically referring to Valtorta and reactions to her revelations. Hence for the sake of clarity, the pronouns have been rendered in the feminine gender in this English translation.

24. "little bird": the reference is again particularly to Valtorta. 25. Cf. Deuteronomy 32:11. As so many things in nature, the eagle is also a symbol of God. 26. Again the reference is to Valtorta, brought up to Heaven in two previous Visions of January 10 and May 25, 1944, translated on this Valtorta Website in The Mystery of the Holy Trinity. 27. "The Sun..." capitalized also in the Italian, because here it is a symbol of Christ. 28. Jesus resumes the metaphor of the "little bird" as a symbol of His lovers and "mouthpieces", again referring especially to Valtorta in this context. 29. "My voice": Jesus again addresses Valtorta directly now.

Jesus says: "This is the Voice of the Teacher. It roars and it caresses. It roars when it is addressed to those who do not want to be converted. It caresses when it speaks to those who, though imperfect, have the "good will" to find God and His Word and, having found Them, to sanctify themselves. For these it becomes the caress of a Friend and the blessing of Jesus." Oct. 23, 1944.

A child awakes Matthias and then Jesus. (Jesus and the apostles with some disciples rest in a shed on some hay during a very hot day, after Jesus promises to speak to the peasants when it is cooler at sunset.) The little fellow seen a short time ago, who is now beautiful in his very short shirt, the only garment he has on in this torrid hour, puts his little dark head out of the kitchen door, watches closely, and comes forward cautiously with his tender little feet aching on the hot ground. His loose little shirt almost slips off his plump shoulders. He reaches the disciples and tries to step over them to go and look at Jesus once again. But his little legs are too short to get over the sturdy bodies of adults, and he stumbles falling on Matthias who awakes and sees the little face of the mortified child, ready to cry. He smiles and understanding the reason for the little fellow's maneuver, he says: "Come here, I will put you between Jesus and myself. But you must be silent and still. Let Him sleep, because He is tired." And the child sits down happily, adoring Jesus' beautiful face. He looks at Him,

studies Him, and is dying to caress Him and touch His golden hair. But Matthias is vigilant smiling and does not allow him. The child then asks in a low voice: "Does He always sleep like that?" "Always like that" replies Matthias. "Is He tired? Why?" "Because He walks and talks so much." "Why does He talk and walk?" "To teach children to be good and to love the Lord to go to Heaven with Him." "Up there? How does one do that? It's far..." "Your soul, do you know what a soul is?" "No!" "It is the nicest thing we have, and ...." "More than our eyes? My mummy says that my eyes are two stars. Stars are beautiful, you know?!" The disciple smiles and replies: "It is more beautiful that the little stars of your eyes, because a good soul is more beautiful than the sun." "Oh! Where is it? Where have I got it?" "Here. In your little heart. And it hears and sees everything and it never dies. And when one is never bad and dies as a just person, one's soul flies up there with the Lord." "With Him?" and the child points at Jesus. "With Him." "But has He got a soul?" "He has a soul and divinity. Because that Man you are looking at is God. "How do you know? Who told you?" "The angels did."

The boy, who was sitting leaning on Matthias, cannot take in the news quietly, and he jumps to his feet asking: "Have you seen the angels?" and he looks at Matthias opening his big eyes wide. The news is so astonishing that he forgets Jesus for a moment and thus he does not see that He has half-opened His eyes, awakened by the boy's exclamation. Jesus closes His eyes once again smiling and turns His head round to the other side. "Be quiet! See? Your are waking Him up...I will send you away." "I'll be good. But what are the angels like? When did you see them?" His voice is a whisper again. And Matthias patiently tells the boy, who is sat again in an ecstasy on his chest, what happened on Christmas Night. And he patiently replies to all the boy's questions: "Why was He born in a stable? Had He no home? Was He so poor that He could not find a house? Has He got a house now? Has He no Mother? Where is His Mother? Why does She leave Him all alone, since She knows that they wanted to kill Him? Does She not love Him?..." A hail of questions and one of answers. And the last one--to which Matthias replies "His holy Mother loves Her Divine Son very much, but She makes a sacrifice of Her sorrow for letting Him go about, so that men may be saved. And to console Herself She considers that there are still good men capable of loving Him" bringing this reply: "Does She not know that there are good children who love Him? Where is She? Tell me, because I will go and say to Her: "Do not weep. I will give all my love to your Son." What do you think? Will she be pleased?" "So much, my child" says Matthias kissing him. "And will He be glad?" "Yes, very much. You will tell Him when He awakes." "Oh! Yes...But when will He awake?" The boy is anxious... Jesus can resist no longer. He turns round, with His eyes wide open and a bright smile, and He says: "You have already told Me, because I have heard everything. "Come here, child." Oh! the boy does not need to be told twice and he throws himself on Jesus, caressing and kissing Him, touching His forehead, His golden eyebrows and eyelids with his little finger, looking at himself in His blue eyes, rubbing himself against His soft beard and silky hair, repeating at each discovery: "How lovely You are! Lovely! Lovely!" Jesus and Matthias smile.

Then as the others wake up, because the boy is not so careful now about making too much noise, the disciples and apostles smile seeing such an accurate examination by the little man in the bud, half-naked, plump, who moves blissfully up and down Jesus' body, scanning it from head to food and ends up by saying: "Turn round!" and he explains why: "To see Your wings" and then he is disappointed he asks: "Why have You not got them?" "I am not an angel, My child." "But You are God! How can You be God if you are not full of wings? How will You be able to go up to Heaven?" "I am God. Just because I am God I do not need wings. I do what I want and I can do everything." "Well then make my eyes like Yours. They are beautiful." "No. I gave you the ones you have and I like them as they are. Ask Me, instead, to make your soul just, so that you can love Me more and more." "You gave me that as well, so You must like it as it is" replies the little one with childish logic. "Yes, I like it very much now because it is innocent. But while your eyes will always be the hue of ripe olives, your soul may change from white to black, if you are bad." "No, not bad. I love You and I want to do what the angels said when You were born: "Peace to God in Heaven and glory to men of good will" says the boy mistaking, which makes the adults guffaw, and the little fellow mortified becomes dumb. But Jesus comforts him while correcting him: "God is always Peace, My child. He is the Peace. But the angels were giving Him glory because the Savior was born and they were giving men the first rule to obtain the peace, which was to derive from My birth: "to have good will". The one you want." "Yes, give me it. Put it here where that man said that I have my soul" and with his forefingers he beats his little chest several times. "Yes, My little friend. What is your name?" "Michael!" "The name of the powerful Archangel. Well, I give good will to you, Michael.

And may you be a confessor of the true God, saying to persecutors what your angelic patron said: "Who is like God?" May you be blessed now and always" and He imposes His hands on him. But the little one is not convinced. He says: "No, kiss me here. On my soul. And Your blessing will go into it and will remain closed in it" and he uncovers his chest to be kissed without anything being interposed between his body and Jesus' divine lips. All those who are present smile and are moved at the same time. And quite rightly! The wonderful faith of the innocent child, who has gone to Jesus, some may say by instinct, but I say: urged by his soul, is really touching, and Jesus points it out saying: "Ah! if everybody had the heart of a child!..." Hours have gone by in the meanwhile. The house becomes busy again. The voices of women, children and men can be heard. And a mother calls: "Michael! Michael! Where are you?" and she appears at the door and with fear in her eyes she looks at the low well with a dreadful thought in her heart. "Be not afraid, woman. Your son is with Me." "Oh! I was afraid...He likes to play with water so much..." "And in fact he came to the Living Water that descends from Heaven to give Life to men." "He has troubled You... But he slipped away so silently that I did not hear him..." says the woman apologizing. "Oh! no! He has not disturbed Me. He has comforted Me! Children never grieve Jesus." Men and other women approach Jesus. The head of the family says: "Come in and take some food. And forgive us if we did not make You the master of our house the first moment we saw You..." "I have nothing to forgive you. I have been very comfortable here. I feel honored by your respect. We had food, and your well is cool and your hay soft. More than what is necessary for the Son of Man. I am not a Syrian satrap."...
Excerpted from THE POEM OF THE MAN-GOD, volume 3, pp. 752-755. Written by Maria Valtorta

Jesus Blesses the Children

Pacecco De Rosa 1630 From POEM OF THE MAN-GOD, volume 3, pp. 616-622

Parable on Wisdom.

...Even now the usual sentence of Jesus can be heard in defense of His little friends: "Leave them alone! Oh! they do not disturb Me! It is not children who cause trouble and grief!" Jesus bends over them, with a bright smile that makes Him young, so that He almost looks like their older brother, a kind accomplice in some of their innocent amusements, and He whispers: "Be good and quiet, so they will not send you away, and we shall be able to be together a little longer." "And will You tell us a nice parable?" asks the boldest one. "Yes. One all for you. Then I will speak to your relatives. Listen, everybody.

What is useful to the little ones is useful also to men. A man one day was summoned by a great king who said to him: 'I heard that you deserve a prize because you are wise and you honor your town with your work and your science. Now, I will not give you this or that thing, but I will take you into the hall of my treasures and you will choose what you like, and I will give it to you. In this way I will also judge whether you are up to your fame.' At the same time the king, approaching the terrace which surrounded his hall, cast a glance at the square in front of the royal palace and saw a poorly dressed boy pass by: a child of a very poor family, perhaps an orphan and a beggar. He turned to his servants saying: 'Go to that boy and bring him here.' The servants went and came back with the child to appear in the presence of the king. Although the dignitaries of the court said to him: "Make a bow, salute, say: 'Honor and glory to you, my king. I bend my knee before you, powerful king whom the Earth exalts as the greatest being existing'", the boy refused to bow and repeat those words, and the scandalised dignitaries shook him rudely and said: 'O king, this dirty boorish boy is a dishonor in your abode. Let us drive him out of here into the street. If you wish to have a boy near you we will go and look for one among the rich people in town, if you are tired of our children, and we will bring him to you. But not this boorish fellow who does not even know how to greet a person!...' The rich wise man, who had previously humiliated himself with many deep servile bows, as if he were before an altar, said: 'Your dignitaries are right. For the sake of the majesty of your crown you must ensure that your sacred person is given the homage due it' and while saying these words he prostrated himself to kiss the king's foot. But the king said: "No. I want this boy. Not only that, but I want to take him as well into the hall of my treasures, so that he may choose what he wants and I will give it to him. I am perhaps not allowed, just because I am a king, to make a poor boy happy? Is he not my subject like each of you? Is it his fault he is unhappy? No, God be praised! I want to make him happy at least for once! Come, child, and be not afraid of me" and he stretched out his hand which the boy took with simplicity kissing it spontaneously. The king smiled. And between two rows of stooping dignitaries, on purple carpets with golden flowers, he turned his steps towards the treasure room, with the rich wise man on his right hand side, and the poor ignorant boy on his left. And the royal purple mantle contrasted strikingly with the frayed garment and the bare feet of the poor boy. They went into the treasure room, the door of which was opened by two great men of the Court. It was a high, round, windowless room. But light flooded in

through the ceiling made of a huge plate of mica. A mild light which, however made the gold knobs of safes shine brightly and the purple ribbons of many parchment rolls glow on high ornate reading-desks. Stately rolls, with precious rods, and clasps and labels adorned with shining stones. Rare works which only a king could possess. And, ignored on a grim dark low desk, a small parchment rolled on a white piece of wood, tied with a rustic thread, as dusty as a neglected thing. The king said pointing at the walls: "Here are all the treasures of the Earth, and others which are even greater than earthly treasures. Because here are all the works of human genius, and there are also works coming from superhuman sources. Go and take whatever you wish." And he stood in the middle of the room, with folded arms, watching. The rich wise man went first towards the safes and lifted their covers with more and more feverish anxiety. Gold bars and jewels, silver, pearls, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, opals... were shining in all the coffers... cries of admiration were heard as each one was opened... He then went to the reading-desks, and when reading the titles, his lips uttered new cries of admiration, and at last the man, highly enthusiastic, turned to the king and said: "You have an incomparable treasure: the stones equal the value of the rolls, and the rolls of the stones! Can I really make my choice freely?" "I told you. As if everything belonged to you." The man threw himself with his face on the ground saying: "I worship you, o great king!" And he got up and ran first to the coffers, then to the desks, taking from both the best things he saw. The king, who had smiled a first time under his beard seeing the excitement with which the man ran from one coffer to another, and a second time seeing him throw himself on the ground worshipping, and a third time seeing the cupidity, the method and preferences by which he chose gems and books, addressed the boy who was standing beside him saying: "And are you not going to choose the beautiful stones and the valuable rolls?" The boy shook his head in denial. "Why not?" "Because with regard to the rolls, I cannot read them and as far as the stones are concerned...I do not know their value. They are nothing but little stones to me."

"But they would make you rich..." "I have no father, no mother, no brother. Of what avail would it be to me to go to my shelter with a treasure in my bosom?" "But you would be able to buy a house with it..." "I would still be alone in it." "You could buy clothes." "I would still be cold without the love of relatives." "Food." "I could not become satiated with my mother's kisses or buy them at any price." "You could get teachers and learn to read..." "I would like that better. But what could I read then?" "The works of poets, philosophers, wise men... ancient words and the history of peoples." "Useless things, either vain or past... Not worth it..." "What a silly child!" exclaimed the man whose arms by now were full of rolls, and his belt and tunic round his chest were swollen with gems." The king smiled once again under his beard. And taking the boy in his arms he carried him to the coffers, where he dipped his hand into the pearls, the rubies, the topazes, the amethysts, letting them drop like sparkling rain, tempting the boy to take some. "No, king, I do not want any. I would like something else..." The king took him to the desks and read stanzas of poets, episodes of heroes, descriptions of countries. "Oh! it is beautiful to read. But that is not what I would like..." "What, then? Tell me, and I will give it to you, my boy." "Oh! I don't think you can, o king, notwithstanding your power. It is not a

thing of this world..." "Ah! you do not want works of the Earth. Here, then: here are the works which God dictated to His servants. Listen" and he read some of the inspired pages. "That is much more beautiful. But to understand it properly, one must first know God's language well. Is there no book which teaches that, that can make us understand what is God?" The king was quite astonished and did not laugh any more, but he pressed the boy to his heart. The man instead laughed derisively saying: "Not even the wisest men know what God is, and you, an ignorant boy, want to know? If you want to become rich by that!..." The king looked at him sternly while the little fellow replied: "I do not seek riches, I am seeking love and one day I was told that God is Love." The king took him to the grim desk, where the little dusty roll tied with a string was. He picked it up, unrolled it and read the first lines: "Let little ones come to Me, and I, God, will teach them the science of love. It is in this book, and I..." "Oh! that is what I want. I will know God and by having Him, I shall have everything. Give me this roll, o king, and I shall be happy." "But it has no value moneywise. That boy is really foolish! He cannot read and he takes a book! He is not wise and he does not want to learn. He is poor and he does not take treasures." "I will strive to possess love, and this book will teach me. May you be blessed, o king, because you are giving me something which will no longer make me feel a poor orphan!" "At least worship him as I did, if you think you have become so happy through him!" "I do not worship the man, but God Who made him so kind." "This boy is the true wise person in my kingdom, o man, whereas you have usurped the reputation of being wise. Pride and avidity have intoxicated you to such an extent that you maintain that a creature should be worshipped instead of the Creator, simply because a creature was giving you stones and human works. And have you not considered that you have gems, and I have had them, because God created them, and that you have rare rolls containing the thought of man,

because God gave man an intellect. This child who is cold and hungry, who is all alone, who has been struck by all kinds of sorrow, who would be excused and justifiable if he became intoxicated with the sight of riches, this child knows how to express just thanks to God for making my heart kind and he seeks but the one only necessary thing: to love God, to know love in order to have true riches here and in future life. Man, I promised I would give you what you would choose. The word of a king is sacred. So, go with your stones and your rolls: multicolored pebbles and...straw of human thought. And live trembling with fear of thieves and moths: the former the enemies of gems, the latter of parchments. And be dazzled by the vain flashes of those chips, and be disgusted with the sickly sweet flavor of human science, which is only flavor and not nourishment. Go. This child will remain with me and we will strive together to read the book that is love, that is, God. And we shall have no vain flashes of cold gems, nor the sickly sweet flavor of straw of the works of human knowledge. But the fire of the Eternal Spirit will grant us, even in this life, the ecstasy of Paradise and we shall possess Wisdom, which is more fortifying than wine, more nourishing than honey. Come, child, to whom Wisdom has shown her face, that you may desire her as a genuine bride." And after driving away the man, he kept the child and instructed him in divine Wisdom that he might be a just man and a king worthy of the sacred anointment on the Earth, and a citizen of the Kingdom of God in the other life. That is the parable promised to the little ones and proposed to adults. Do you remember Baruch? He says: "Why, Israel, why are you in the country of your enemies, growing older and older in an alien land, sharing defilement with the dead, reckoned with those who go to Sheol?" And he replies: "Because you have forsaken the fountain of Wisdom. Had you walked in the way of God, you would have lived in peace for ever." Listen, you who too often complain of being in exile, although you are in our fatherland, since our fatherland is no longer ours, but of our rulers; you complain of that and you do not know that in comparison with what is awaiting you in future, it is like a drop of venegar mixed with water, compared with the inebriating drink given to condemned men and which, as you know, is more bitter than any other drink. The people of God are suffering because it forsook Wisdom. How can you possess prudence, strength, intelligence, how can you even know where they are, and consequently know minor things, if you no longer drink at the fountains of Wisdom? His Kingdom is not of this Earth, but God's mercy grants its source. It is in God. It is God Himself. And God opens His bosom that it may descend upon you. Well, does Israel, who has or had--and still thinks she has, with the foolish

pride of prodigal people who squandered their money and think they are still rich and in such belief exact homage, whereas they receive nothing but pity or derision--does Israel, who has or had riches, conquests, honors, possess the only treasure? No, she does not. And she loses also the others because he who loses Wisdom loses also the capability of being great. And he who does not know Wisdom falls from one error into another. And Israel knows many things, even too many, but she no longer knows Wisdom. Baruch correctly says: "The young men of this people have seen the day, they peopled the Earth but they have not known the way of Wisdom or her paths and their children have not received her and she has gone far from them." Far from them! They have not received her! Prophetic words! I am Wisdom speaking to you. And three quarters of the people in Israel do not receive Me. And Wisdom goes away and will go farther away leaving them alone... And then what will those do, who now consider themselves giants and therefor capable of forcing the Lord to assist them and serve them? Are they giants useful to God in establishing His Kingdom? No, they are not. I with Baruch say so: "To establish the true Kingdom of God, God will not choose those proud giants, and He will let them perish in their own folly" outside the paths of Wisdom. Because to ascend to Heaven with one's spirit and understand the lessons of Wisdom, one must have a humble, obedient and above all an entirely loving spirit, because Wisdom speaks her own language, that is, she speaks the language of love, because she is Love. To become acquainted with her paths it is necessary to have limpid humble eyes, free from the treble concupiscence. To possess Wisdom one must buy her with living money: virtues. Israel did not possess that and I have come to explain Wisdom, to lead you to her Way, and sow virtues in your hearts. Because I know everything and I am aware of everything and I have come to teach My servant Jacob and My beloved Israel all that. I have come to the Earth to converse with men, I, the Word of the Father, to take the children of men by the hand, I, the Son of God and of man, I, the Way of Life. I have come to show you into the room of eternal treasures, I, to Whom everything was given by My Father. I, eternal Lover, have come to take My Bride, Mankind, that I want to elevate to My throne and to My nuptial room, so that men may be in Heaven with Me, and I may introduce them into the winecellar that they may be exhilirated with the true Vine from which the vine-shoots draw Life. But Israel is a sluggish bride and does not get up from her bed to open the door to Him Who has come. And the bridegroom goes away. He will pass. He is about to pass. And later Israel will look for Him in vain, and will not find the merciful Charity of her Savior but the war wagons of the rulers, and she will be crushed and pride and life will be squeezed out of her, after she wanted to crush also the merciful Will of God.

Oh! Israel, Israel, who are losing true Life for the sake of keeping a false dream of power! Oh! Israel, who think that you are saving yourself and want to save yourself with different means than those of Wisdom, and you are getting lost by selling yourself to Falsehood and Crime, shipwrecked Israel who will not clutch at the solid rope thrown to rescue you, whereas you cling to the wreckage of your shattered past, and the storm carries you away to the open sea, a frightful lightless sea. O Israel, what is the good of saving your life or presuming to save it for one hour, one year, for ten, twenty, thirty years, at the cost of a crime, and then perish for ever? What is life, glory, power? A bubble of dirty water on the surface of a pond used by laundry-men, an iridescent bubble, not because it is made of gems, but because it consists of greasy dirt that with potash swells into empty bubbles destined to burst leaving no trace, except a circle on the water foul with human sweat. One thing only is necessary, o Israel. To possess Wisdom. Even at the cost of one's life. Because life is not the most precious thing. It is better to lose one hundred lives than to lose one's soul." Jesus has finished in an admiring silence. And He tries to push through the crowd and go... But the children claim His kisses, and adults His blessing. Only then, after taking leave of Cleopas and Hermas of Emmaus, He can depart. Jesus says: "Today I want to speak to you about grace. You will see that it is related to the other topics, even if at first it doesn't seem that way to you. You are a little tired, poor Maria, but write all the same. These lessons will be of use to you in the days of fasting when I, your Master do not speak to you. What is grace? You have studied and explained it many times. But I want to explain it to you in My own way in its nature and in its effects. Grace is to possess the light, power, and wisdom of God in yourselves--that is, to possess intellectual likeness to God, the unmistakable sign of your filiation in God. Without grace, you would simply be animal creatures that had reached such a point in evolution as to be endowed with reason, with a soul, but a soul on an earthly level, capable of acting in the circumstances of life on earth, but unable to rise up to the regions where the life of the spirit transpires. Little more than beasts, then, that act by instinct alone and, in reality, surpass you quite often in their way of acting. Grace is thus a sublime gift, the greatest gift that God, My Father, could give you. And He gives it to you freely, for his love as a Father, for you, is infinite, as He Himself is infinite. If we wanted to state all the attributes of grace, it would require writing a long list of adjectives and nouns, and we would still not explain

perfectly what this gift is. Remember this alone: Grace is to possess the Father, to live in the Father; grace is to possess the Son, to enjoy the infinite merits of the Son; grace is to possess the Holy Spirit, to benefit from His Seven Gifts. Grace, in short, is to possess Us, the Triune God, and for your mortal person to be surrounded by the hosts of angels who worship Us in you. A soul that loses grace loses everything. The Father has created her to no avail; the Son has redeemed her to no avail; the Holy Spirit has infused His gifts into her to no avail; the Sacraments exist for her to no avail. She is dead. A rotten branch which, under the corrosive action of sin, becomes detached and falls from the tree of life and in the end rots in the mud. If a soul were able to preserve herself as she is after Baptism and after Confirmation--that is, when she is literally soaked with grace--that soul would be only a little less than God. Let this tell you all. When you read the prodigies of My saints, you are astonished. But, My dear one, there is nothing to be astonished about. My saints were creatures who possessed grace; they were gods, therefore, for grace deifies you. Did I not state in My Gospel that my followers would work the same prodigies as I did? But to be Mine, it is necessary to live by My Life--that is, by the life of grace. If you wanted to, you could all be capable of prodigies--that is, of holiness. Indeed, I would like you to be, for that would mean that My Sacrifice had been crowned by victory and that I had really torn you away from the empire of the Evil One, banishing him to his Hell, and riveting hell's mouth shut with an irremovable stone, and placing upon it the throne of My Mother, the Only One who kept Her heel upon the dragon, who was powerless to do Her harm. Not all the souls in grace possess grace in the same measure. Not because we infuse it to different degrees, but because you manage to preserve it in yourselves in different ways. Mortal sin destroys grace; venial sin causes it to crumble; imperfections make it anemic. There are souls, not entirely bad, that languish in spiritual consumption because, by their inertia, which spurs them to commit continual acts of imperfection, they increasingly thin grace out, turning it into a most slender thread, a fading little flame. When it should be a fire, an intense, lovely, purifying blaze. The world is collapsing because grace is collapsing in almost all souls and languishing in the others. Grace yields different fruits to the extent that it is more or less alive in your hearts. The richer a terrain is in elements and the more it is helped by the sun, the water, and the air currents, the more fertile it is. There are sterile, meager plots of land which are sprinkled with water to no avail, warmed by the sun, traversed by the winds. The same holds for souls. There are souls that with all application take

on vital elements and thus manage to benefit one hundred percent from the effects of grace.

The vital elements are to live according to My Law--chaste, merciful, humble, loving God and one's neighbor; it is to live by living prayer. Then grace grows, flourishes, sinks in deep roots, and rises up into the tree of eternal life. Then the Holy Spirit, like a sun, inundates you with His Seven Rays, His Seven Gifts; then, I, the Son, penetrate you with the divine rain of My Blood; then the Father looks at you with pleasure, seeing His likeness in you; then Mary caresses you, clasping you to her breast, which bore Me, along with her little children who are lesser, but very, very dear to Her Heart; then the nine angelical choirs crown your soul, the temple of God, and sing the sublime Gloria; then your death is Life and your Life is blessedness in My Kingdom."

Written by Maria Valtorta, June 6, 1943.

Excerpted from THE NOTEBOOKS 1943

http://valtorta.org/