MM answered this very concern...... So the Archbishop of Trani has been rightly concerned that nothing interfere with the Cause that has been opened for Luisa, such as bad translations or erroneous interpretations. In a letter in 2012, he stated: I must mention the growing and unchecked flood of transcriptions, translations and publications both through print and the internet. At any rate, “seeing the delicacy of the current phase of the proceedings, any and every publication of the writings is absolutely forbidden at this time. Anyone who acts against this is disobedient and greatly harms the cause of the Servant of God”(Communication of May 30, 2008). All effort must be invested in avoiding all “leaks” of publications of any kind. —Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri, November 12th, 2012; danieloconnor.files.wordpress.com However, in a subsequent letter of April 26th, 2015, addressed to an international conference on Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, the late Archbishop Pichierri stated that he “received with joy the commitment that the participants declared solemnly they would take upon themselves to be more faithful to the Charism of ‘living in the Divine Will'” and that he “recommended to all that they deepen the life and the teachings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta in light of Holy Scripture, the Tradition, and of the Magisterium of the Church under the guidance and in obedience to their Bishops and priests” and that Bishops ought to “welcome and support such groups, assisting them to put into practice concretely the spirituality of the Divine Will.”[5] Clearly, in order to live ‘the Charism’ and ‘deepen’ oneself in ‘the life and the teachings’ of Luisa and ‘practice concretely the spirituality of the Divine Will,’ one must have access to the messages communicated to Luisa. The very conference the Archbishop attended employed existing publications in order to instruct attendees in the Divine Will. The Diocesan sponsored Official Association of Luisa Piccarreta is regularly quoting from the volumes as are the ecclesiastically approved Benedictine Daughters of the Divine Will who cite English translations of the volumes in their public newsletters. How, then, are the faithful to square away seemingly contradictory statements from the late Archbishop, especially in light of Publishing House Gamba’s legal claims? The obvious conclusion is that one can acquire, read and share already existing faithful texts while no further “transcriptions, translations and publications” are to be produced until the Archdiocese’s “typical and critical” edition is released. That, and one must pursue these teachings “in light of Holy Scripture, the Tradition and of the Magisterium of the Church,” as Archbishop Pichierri wisely advised.
Thank you Mary for confirming this. So we can read and study any of the translations, and in fact are encouraged to do so, but cannot sell them for profit. That makes what everyone is posting from Archbishop Pichierri old news.
I have to say I am loving the idea of not only following God's Will but becoming a part of His Divine Will. Sadly, i think it's a process a bit out a reach for a poor sinner like me right now. I envy Luisa's great sacrifice and also that of Faustina. I may not fully understand it..... it doesn't seem overly complicated but perhaps outside of my weak state. In no way do I want to make this sound like I don't respect Lucia's life long suffering and challenge to learn and become one with God's Will but, I swear if I was bed ridden for the rest of my life it might make it easier. Working full time in a busy retail environment, dealing with all sorts of people on a daily basis, especially challenging ones along dealing with home life, family and friends outside of work I wonder how one could be part of a busy life AND also be part of the Divine Will ? It's hard enough to say and do the right things, avoid sinning by action or omission and stay in a state of grace let alone reach a point where everything you do is PART of the Divine Will. (If having that extra beer or 2 after a challenging week can be Part of God's Will then maybe there is hope!) I'm not going to loose heart or give up on learning and striving for this great gift. Maybe, if God Willing my wife and I can retire in some years we can pursue this in a greater way. Sorry don't want to hijack this thread.
I am so happy you verbalized this because I was thinking this same thing. I find it hard to relate to Luisa's experience because I lead an active and busy life with lots of variables and certainly surrounded by people who do not seem to believe in God. As I draw deeper into my faith I find lots of my former life, social life and interests undesirable, but I still have to be in the world. I want to ask if anyone feels like they are currently Living in the Divine Will? I sound so naive but how would one know? It sounds like perhaps a life long confession as suggested by some visionaries and prophets could be a good start to really start to "Know thyself." I also love the Mark Mallet blog...he has a great way of simplifying. I would just love some practical examples if anyone can share? Thank you!
The greatest Saint in the History of the Church , after Our Lady, is Saint Joseph. Consecrate yourself to Saint Joseph, after you have Consecrated to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart.
You might want to take a look at some of the discussion videos made by the new order of Benedictine Daughters of the Divine Will. Second link below. They show how one has to begin slowly and simply and in parts. And the young sisters are also just at the beginning. Anyway, I think that just becoming acquainted with the "new" teachings of what turns out to really be the fuller meaning to what we already know, is for the coming time when we will begin to see the gradual entrance of heaven coming to earth with the gradual witnessing of the same preternatural gifts that were enjoyed by Adam and Even in the original garden.....so we won't be "shocked" by the supernatural meeting the natural in more ways than ever known. But re: a busy life, there IS a choice for detachment of more and more of the things of the material world when moving into the Divine Will. But we begin to offer our activities, give them over at the time w/ their offering to the Divine Will, whenever remembered, beginning with the Morning Offering: https://www.queenofthedivinewill.org/morning-offering-the-prevenient-act/ That gradual detachment has to happen....at least to some degree.....so that we can even begin to enter into this new dimension of being fused into Christ's Will which is the Will of the Father. And this will be necessary anyway once things begin to really take place around us when the comforts and order of usual security are no longer there. And of course the best way to hold on to the faith when all kinds of actions of the Holy Spirit begin the renewing of the face of the earth and "recreating" of ourselves is to hold on to the "Big daughter" of the Divine Will....Mary, our Mother. https://www.queenofthedivinewill.or...rie-the-benedictine-daughters-of-divine-will/ And again, Frank Rega's books are good: esp. this one....IMHO: http://www.frankrega.com/AllBooks.htm Hope this can help a bit. Sometimes watching/listening to how others are approaching this holiness calms any "obsessive" approach or need to "do" it all alone.
Jesus certainly understands that we do not live in the state of suffering as Luisa did, but He chose us to live in the world. Isn’t that a suffering in these days, to see the world in the state it is in, not to mention the Catholic Church? All He wants is that we share in His suffering and make reparation to Him for all the sins in the world. Jesus says this in the writings, “This is to live in My Will, to never leave your Creator alone.” Just bring Him with you everywhere and to be attentive to His presence. Jesus will make up for all the distractions. All we need do is to desire to live in His Will. To take away the “little pebble” (as He calls it) of our own Wills in exchange for His Divine Will. Just desire It and He will do the rest.
I will repeat what Lumena said. The second most important saint in salvation history is St Joseph. We must consecrate ourselves to him after we have consecrated ourselves to the Sacred Heart and Blessed Mother. One of his titles is Terror of Demons. We are Catholics.
No one is discrediting our dear Saint Joseph and I do not know where anyone gets that idea from. Jesus loved Saint Joseph very much and says so in Luisa's writings and many, many others. Luisa was the "littlest one" that Jesus could find and it was her mission to suffer and to bring the knowledge of living in the Divine Will to us - Saint Joseph's mission was to be Foster Father to Jesus. It is sad that people think that just because Luisa was chosen for this mission that we are not to honor Saint Joseph. He has brought many miracles for myself and for others so many times, and I pray to him every day. Dear Saint Joseph, pray for us and pray for the Kingdom of God to come to rein on this earth - soon!
Volume 12, Feb. 16, 1921 “My daughter, in order to enter into my Will there are neither paths nor doors nor keys, because my Will is everywhere. It flows under one’s feet, on the right, on the left, above one’s head - everywhere. The creature must do nothing other than remove the little stone of her own will, which, though it is there in my Will, does not take part in, nor does it enjoy Its effects, rendering itself as though a stranger in my Volition. In fact, it is as if the little stone of her will prevented the water from flowing from the shore to run somewhere else, because the stones are blocking it. But if the soul removes the little stone of her will, at that very instant she flows into Me, and I into her; she finds all my goods at her disposal: strength, light, help - whatever she wants. This is why there are no paths, nor doors, nor keys - it is enough to want it, and everything is done. My Will takes charge of everything, and of giving her what she lacks, and It makes her wander freely within the interminable boundaries of my Will. All the opposite for the other virtues: how many efforts are needed, how many struggles, how many long ways. And while it seems that the virtue is smiling at her, one passion a little bit violent, one temptation, one unexpected encounter, hurl her back and put her at the start, to walk the way.”
THIS IS WHAT FR. JOSEPH SAID IN HIS BOOK. READ IT YOURSELF AND SEE IF HE IS SAYING THAT WE SHOULD CONSECRATE OURSELVES TO LUISA - IT IS JUST THE OPPOSITE. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO READ IT HERE, PLEASE GO TO "THE NEW AND DIVINE HOLINESS" THREAD AS I HAVE POSTED IT THERE.
St. Joseph was the created spouse of the "Big Daughter of the Divine Will" so he participated in the Divine Will. It's nothing to do with ranking saints. It's the gifts given in the Divine Will of the Father. His daughter had no need to be taught as do we since she lived in the DW from the beginning. Nothing new.
I encourage everyone who would like to read a Doctor on the Divine Will to read this full work: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/uniformity-with-gods-will-12644 From St. Alphonsus: "3. Happiness deriving from perfect Uniformity. Acting according to this pattern, one not only becomes holy but also enjoys perpetual serenity in this life. Alphonsus the Great, King of Aragon, being asked one day whom he considered the happiest person in the world, answered: "He who abandons himself to the will of God and accepts all things, prosperous and adverse, as coming from his hands.'' "To those that love God, all things work together unto good." Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfill, even in adversity, the will of God. Afflictions do not mar their serenity, because by accepting misfortune, they know they give pleasure to their beloved Lord: "Whatever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad." Indeed, what can be more satisfactory to a person than to experience the fulfillment of all his desires? This is the happy lot of the man who wills only what God wills, because everything that happens, save sin, happens through the will of God. There is a story to this effect in the "Lives of the Fathers" about a farmer whose crops were more plentiful than those of his neighbors. On being asked how this happened with such unvarying regularity, he said he was not surprised because he always had the kind of weather he wanted. He was asked to explain. He said: "It is so because I want whatever kind of weather God wants, and because I do, he gives me the harvests I want.'' If souls resigned to God's will are humiliated, says Salvian, they want to be humiliated; if they are poor, they want to be poor; in short, whatever happens is acceptable to them, hence they are truly at peace in this life. In cold and heat, in rain and wind, the soul united to God says: "I want it to be warm, to be cold, windy, to rain, because God wills it." This is the beautiful freedom of the sons of God, and it is worth vastly more than all the rank and distinction of blood and birth, more than all the kingdoms in the world. This is the abiding peace which, in the experience of the saints, "surpasseth all understanding.'' It surpasses all pleasures rising from gratification of the senses, from social gatherings, banquets and other worldly amusements; vain and deceiving as they are, they captivate the senses for the time being, but bring no lasting contentment; rather they afflict man in the depth of his soul where alone true peace can reside. Solomon, who tasted to satiety all the pleasures of the world and found them bitter, voiced his disillusionment thus: "But this also is vanity and vexation of spirit." "A fool," says the Holy Spirit, "is changed as the moon; but a holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun." The fool, that is, the sinner, is as changeable as the moon, which today waxes and tomorrow wanes; today he laughs, tomorrow he cries; today he is meek as a lamb, tomorrow cross as a bear. Why? Because his peace of mind depends on the prosperity or the adversity he meets; he changes with the changes in the things that happen to him. The just man is like the sun, constant in his serenity, no matter what betides him. His calmness of soul is founded on his union with the will of God; hence he enjoys unruffled peace. This is the peace promised by the angel of the Nativity: "And on earth, peace to men of good will." Who are these "men of good will" if not those whose wills are united to the infinitely good and perfect will of God? "The good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God." By uniting themselves to the divine will, the saints have enjoyed paradise by anticipation in this life. Accustoming themselves to receive all things from the hands of God, says St. Dorotheus, the men of old maintained continual serenity of soul. St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi derived such consolation at hearing the words "will of God," that she usually fell into an ecstasy of love. The instances of jangling irritation that are bound to arise will not fail to make surface impact on the senses. This however will be experienced only in the inferior part of the soul; in the superior part will reign peace and tranquillity as long as our will remains united with God's. Our Lord assured his apostles: "Your joy no man shall take from you . . . Your joy shall be full." He who unites his will to God's experiences a full and lasting joy: full, because he has what he wants, as was explained above; lasting, because no one can take his joy from him, since no one can prevent what God wills from happening. The devout Father John Tauler relates this personal experience: For years he had prayed God to send him someone who would teach him the real spiritual life. One day, at prayer, he heard a voice saying: "Go to such and such a church and you will have the answer to your prayers." He went and at the door of the church he found a beggar, barefooted and in rags. He greeted the mendicant saying: "Good day, my friend." "Thank you, sir, for your kind wishes, but I do not recall ever having had a 'bad' day." "Then God has certainly given you a very happy life." "That is very true, sir. I have never been unhappy. In saying this I am not making any rash statement either. This is the reason: When I have nothing to eat, I give thanks to God; when it rains or snows, I bless God's providence; when someone insults me, drives me away, or otherwise mistreats me, I give glory to God. I said I've never had an unhappy day, and it's the truth, because I am accustomed to will unreservedly what God wills. Whatever happens to me, sweet or bitter, I gladly receive from his hands as what is best for me. Hence my unvarying happiness." "Where did you find God?" "I found him where I left creatures." "Who are you anyway?" "I am a king." "And where is your kingdom?" "In my soul, where everything is in good order; where the passions obey reason, and reason obeys God." "How have you come to such a state of perfection?" "By silence. I practice silence towards men, while I cultivate the habit of speaking with God. Conversing with God is the way I found and maintain my peace of soul." Union with God brought this poor beggar to the very heights of perfection. In his poverty he was richer than the mightiest monarch; in his sufferings, he was vastly happier than worldlings amid their worldly delights. 4.God wills our Good ...
O the supreme folly of those who resist the divine will! In God's providence, no one can escape hardship: "Who resisteth his will?" A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life: "Who resisteth him and hath had peace?" The screaming rage of the sick man in his pain, the whining complaints of the poor man in his destitution -- what will they avail these people, except increase their unhappiness and bring them no relief? "Little man," says St. Augustine, "grow up. What are you seeking in your search for happiness? Seek the one good that embraces all others.'' Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next. God wills only our good; God loves us more than anybody else can or does love us. His will is that no one should lose his soul, that everyone should save and sanctify his soul: "Not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance." "This is the will of God, your sanctification." God has made the attainment of our happiness, his glory. Since he is by his nature infinite goodness, and since as St. Leo says goodness is diffusive of itself, God has a supreme desire to make us sharers of his goods and of his happiness. If then he sends us suffering in this life, it is for our own good: "All things work together unto good." Even chastisements come to us, not to crush us, but to make us mend our ways and save our souls: "Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord have happened for our amendment and not for our destruction." God surrounds us with his loving care lest we suffer eternal damnation: "O Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy good will." He is most solicitous for our welfare ... When, therefore, something adverse happens to us, let us accept it from his hands, not only patiently, but even with gladness, as did the apostles "who went from the presence of the council rejoicing, that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus." What greater consolation can come to a soul than to know that by patiently bearing some tribulation, it gives God the greatest pleasure in its power? Spiritual writers tell us that though the desire of certain souls to please God by their sufferings is acceptable to him, still more pleasing to him is the union of certain others with his will, so that their will is neither to rejoice nor to suffer, but to hold themselves completely amenable to his will, and they desire only that his holy will be fulfilled. If, devout soul, it is your will to please God and live a life of serenity in this world, unite yourself always and in all things to the divine will. Reflect that all the sins of your past wicked life happened because you wandered from the path of God's will. For the future, embrace God's good pleasure and say to him in every happening: "Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." When anything disagreeable happens, remember it comes from God and say at once, "This comes from God" and be at peace: "I was dumb and opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it." Lord, since thou hast done this, I will be silent and accept it. Direct all your thoughts and prayers to this end, to beg God constantly in meditation, Communion, and visits to the Blessed Sacrament that he help you accomplish his holy will. Form the habit of offering yourself frequently to God by saying, "My God, behold me in thy presence; do with me and all that I have as thou pleasest." This was the constant practice of St. Teresa. At least fifty times a day she offered herself to God, placing herself at his entire disposition and good pleasure. How fortunate you, kind reader, if you too act thus! You will surely become a saint. Your life will be calm and peaceful; your death will be happy. At death all our hope of salvation will come from the testimony of our conscience as to whether or not we are dying resigned to God's will. If during life we have embraced everything as coming from God's hands, and if at death we embrace death in fulfillment of God's holy will, we shall certainly save our souls and die the death of saints. Let us then abandon everything to God's good pleasure, because being infinitely wise, he knows what is best for us; and being all-good and all-loving -- having given his life for us -- he wills what is best for us. Let us, as St. Basil counsels us, rest secure in the conviction that beyond the possibility of a doubt, God works to effect our welfare, infinitely better than we could ever hope to accomplish or desire it ourselves ... ... If we act in this manner, the reward will not be slight which we shall receive from the hands of God who loves above all others, souls resigned to his holy will. 7. Conclusion. Finally we should consider the events which are happening to us now and which will happen to us in the future, as coming from the hands of God. Everything we do should be directed to this one end: to do the will of God and to do it solely for the reason that God wills it. To walk more securely on this road we must depend on the guidance of our superiors in external matters, and on our directors in internal matters, to learn from them God's will in our regard, having great faith in the words of our Lord: "He that heareth you, heareth me." Above all, let us bend all our energies to serve God in the way he wishes. This remark is made so that we may avoid the mistake of him who wastes his time in idle day-dreaming. Such a one says, "If I were to become a hermit, I would become a saint" or "If I were to enter a monastery, I would practice penance" or "If I were to go away from here, leaving friends and companions, I would devote long hours to prayer." If, If, If -- all these if's! In the meantime such a person goes from bad to worse. These idle fancies are often temptations of the devil, because they are not in accord with God's will. Hence we should dismiss them summarily and rouse ourselves to serve God only in that way which he has marked out for us. Doing his holy will, we shall certainly become holy in those surroundings in which he has placed us. Let us will always and ever only what God wills; for so doing, he will press us to his heart. To this end let us familiarize ourselves with certain texts of sacred scripture that invite us to unite ourselves constantly with the divine will: "Lord, what wilt thou have me do?" Tell me, my God, what thou wilt have me do, that I may will it also, with all my heart. "I am thine, save thou me." I am no longer my own, I am thine, O Lord, do with me as thou wilt. If some particularly crashing misfortune comes upon us, for example, the death of a relative, loss of goods, let us say: "Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." Yes, my God and my Father, so be it, for such is thy good pleasure. Above all, let us cherish that prayer of our Lord, which he himself taught us: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Our Lord bade St. Catherine of Genoa to make a notable pause at these words whenever she said the Our Father, praying that God's holy will be fulfilled on earth with the same perfection with which the saints do it in heaven. Let this be our practice also, and we shall certainly become saints. May the divine will be loved and praised! May the Immaculate Virgin be also praised!"
How is St. Alphonsus a doctor of Luisa's divine will when he lived hundreds of years before this new "revelation"? Answer - he is not. St. Alphonsus is speaking of the traditional and orthodox way of conforming our will to God's.
Anyone who understands the Doctrine of the Divine Will as it is taught by the best Doctors of the Church knows the Doctrine is so astonishingly holy, so sacred, so sure, such an invaluable help in leaping by bounds in sanctity - that for the very knowledge of it, one ought to thank God every day, every hour, 24*7 for the rest of one's life - that it could only have come from God. If satan is going around telling people to unite and surrender to God's Will, he is the greatest fool there ever was - and he is not. And the same conclusion follows, only still more powerfully, based on what the Saints say about one single moment of meditation on the Passion. For the Saints say, that by one single moment of meditation on the Passion, a Christian gains more merit - merits are heavenly treasures the Lord tells us to store up in Heaven, think of them as heavenly dollars if you will, stored up for you in your bank account in heaven, to be manifested in due time in your crown in heaven, if you persevere to the end in grace - than if he scourged himself with his discipline until blood flowed every day of the year, or if he recited the whole 150 Psalms every day, or went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Now, if one Moment of Meditation on the Passion is of such priceless worth and incomparable value, one must be a fool who opposes his own sanctity and happiness - on par with someone given a 1 Trillion Dollar Gift but spitefully throws it back in the face of the Giver - who will fight to the death something so holy, so precious, so immeasurably valuable as a 24*7*365 continual, perpetual Meditation on the Passion such as the Hours of the Passion, from Morning to Night, and from Night to Morning, and then again from Morning to Night. Saintly Luisa Piccarreta so heroically lived like that and showed to the world it was possible to live, in the midst of so many and such great sufferings, with Perfect Submission and Heroic Surrender to the Divine Will, never complaining of so many trials, just like St. Padre Pio - and so cruelly, and worst of all, having to undergo persecution from those who did not wish to understand, just like Our Lord and Our Lady, and St. Joseph, and so many of the Saints and Mystics - like that. In one year of Meditating on the Hours of the Passion, one will make much, much more progress in really knowing and loving Our Lord than many years without it. If Satan is going around supposedly teaching people to love and meditate on Christ's Passion and each individual one of the 24 Hours of it, he would then be a very great help to souls and wills good to us - and he is not and does not. I will not force anyone to make use of this Gift, but I will not cease saying, out of love for souls, that it is very, very foolish to neglect it. The rest is up to your will. Divine Mercy was also foolishly opposed by some; thank God that fight was fought and won, and now it spiritually benefits Millions. The day will come when Divine Will benefits millions more. I hope that, at least when Luisa Piccarreta is finally and formally Canonized by the Catholic Church, you will cease opposition to her cause.
