The imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Book 1

The Imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Book 1

Index

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26

Chapter 1

The voice of Jesus: Learn of Me because I am meek and humble of Heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.

The voice of the Disciple: - These are the words of Jesus Christ, whereby we are commanded to learn and imitate the Virtues of His Heart, that we may be set free from all the misery of soul, and be made truly happy.

This is His doctrine, this is the method of learning, this is the fruit, this is the end.

The first inducement to learn is the excellence of the Master. What is there more excellent than the Son of God, who alone is our Master, appointed by His eternal Father, in whom also are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God?

His doctrine is the truth, surpassing all the arts and sciences of this world: it smooths the way not to some perishable wealth, some passing pleasures, or a short lived renown: but to boundless riches, that cease not to last, to unuttered delights, that are constant, to honours supreme, that endure forever.

Whatever He taught us to do, He taught us in one lesson: Learn of Me because I am meek and humble of Heart: this He adapted to all men, this He gives to all, that they all may learn the same, the little as well as the great; knowing full well that in this precept, if rightly understood and kept, are contained all things necessary.

His whole life was the application of this doctrine, which He began to practice, before He taught it to others.

Let us learn this short lesson, and we shall be wise enough and sufficiently instructed; nor shall we have to look for anything more.

The method of learning consists in action, which is performed in two ways; by studying and by practicing.

But first, in order to understand what we strive to learn, and reduce to practice what we have understood, we must pray earnestly.

Afterwards, we must diligently resolve in our mind the depth, the height the breadth of the lesson; keeping unceasingly before our eyes the divine likeness of Our Master, and examining what we ought to amend, what to avoid, what to hold, and what to aspire.

Lastly, since it is not enough to know, but we must also practice, the lesson as it wholly consists in action, and can be perfectly learnt by acting; we must as soon as we begin to learn, also begin to practice, showing ourselves before God and men, meek and humble of heart in thought, word and deed.

And, whilst we progress in understanding and practice, we should so labour that the spirit of the lesson unfold itself ever more perfectly in the plan of our life, in our inmost feelings, in our conversations, in our every action, in the very modifications of the same.

If, after this manner, we learn what our Lord has given to us to learn, we shall reap the fruit, whereby our zeal and toil shall most certainly be rewarded, according to the promise of Him who cannot possible deceive nor be deceived.

Which is that promised fruit? Of all - the most desirable. Ye shall find rest, says He. And what is it to find rest?

Nothing less than to find that with which we may repose, filled and satisfied; without any need to seek for aught more, and without fear or ever losing it, against our will.

Whoever shall have found this rest, will be truly calm and happy: but he that finds it not, whatever else he may possess, shall ever be restless and unhappy; because in his heart he is not satisfied, is obliged to seek for more and is ever in danger of losing, even against his will, what he has acquired.

We are all so framed that, by nature, we are compelled to covet a blissful repose; neither have we it in our power not to desire the same.

A great blessing it doubtless was, that the Lord placed within us this awakening desire this urging power; for, more firmly in action, more gently in manner, do we by its means, pursue that which is to make us happy.

And although, by the freedom of our will, we are enabled to seek rest in a variety of things; yet will this longing of ours, this power, importune and drive us onward, until we find the object for the seeking and attaining of which this faculty has been given to us.

Christ the Lord Our God, who implanted this faculty in our souls and who would not have given us this irresistible faculty without an object, nor have given it without the ability of attaining the same - shows us here where we should seek, and how we may find the true object.

Learn of Me because I am meek and humble of Heart, and ye shall find rest. He makes no distinction, no exception: we shall then find true rest, unalloyed happiness.

For although our rest, our soul's happiness, as long as we dwell here below, cannot be every way complete, yet it will be real; such as the Lord promises and such as has been experienced by numberless Saints, who were meek and humble Disciples of the meek and humble Jesus.

We shall truly enjoy that peace, which no outward enemy can disturb: we shall delight in that repose, which no inward agitation can disquiet: lastly, we shall possess that divine likeness and union, wherein is contained here upon the earth, and of which no one can deprive us, against our will.

Whilst we gather this fruit, we shall, at the same time, secure our end, the everlasting bliss of our souls. For He says: Ye shall find rest for your souls.

If our souls are ours, they are not ours because we created them, since He Himself created us, and not we ourselves: but they are ours because He gave them to us. In giving them to us, He gave them for an end worthy of Himself, that we - after He had done what He ought, which He always does, since He is infinitely perfect -, might act jointly with Him, and thus gain for our souls a blissful and abiding tranquility.

This then is the end: everlasting beatitude of the soul, intimately connected with the glory of the Lord, who, in creating her, had this end in view.

For if God is full of glory in all His works, how glorified must He be, in so great a work as that of the salvation of souls exulting forever in triumph and praising Him without ceasing!

To attain this end, He helps and strengthens us in a thousand ways and by countless means: for this He goes before us, as a good father before his children, as a guide and companion, pointing out a safe and pleasant way, whilst, at the same time, He relieves and refreshes us.

This being so, let us joyously follow so great and so good a leader. What can be more honorable for us? Is it not a great glory to follow the Lord? is it not supreme honour, to be the Beloved Disciple of His Heart?

What worldly honour can be imagined, which does not become mere emptiness, when compared with such dignity?

Nor is there anything more useful, since on it depends our soul's rest: our happiness both in time and in eternity. Now, this is a matter of such importance, that alone it deserves our attention; because without it, all other things are useless and delusive. Lastly, it is sweet and easy; for His commands are not heavy; since He enjoins such things, as with the means which He affords, we cannot only perform, but from the fulfillment of which no enemy of our salvation, no obstacles can hinder us. And if we learn of the very Heart of the Saviour, we draw from the sweetest fountain of love; so that we either do not feel the labour, or if we do, we so cherish it as to find it easy and delightful. O Jesus, meek and humble of Heart! receive me, I pray Thee, as Thy Disciple, the Disciple of Thy Heart, and grant me to learn diligently of Thee to be meek and lowly of heart, that thus I may find rest for my soul, to Thy everlasting glory.

Chapter 2

The voice of Jesus: My Child, you are created for happiness. This experience affirms, this reason proves, this faith teaches.

You see incessantly for happiness, and you do well. But leave off seeking your happiness in things created; in them you shall not find it.

No object of this world can satisfy the longings of your heart; even should you alone possess at once all things created, your heart should still be empty and wretched.

Things of this earth awaken the thirst of the heart, they cannot allay it; the more you possess, the more eagerly shall you thirst.

How can you find in creatures that which exists not in them? can any one give what he does not possess?

Shall you obtain what no mortal was ever able to obtain? Behold, the wisest of men abounded in all good things, he was affluent with ever-fresh delights, he astonished nations with his boundless wealth, he had filled the uttermost lands with renown of his glory.

Yet, on account of the void in his heart, he is forced to exclaim: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.

Grant that you possess whatever your heart may long for in this world; that you be lord of the whole earth: that all men do you honour: try all things: and you shall find that you have as yet found nothing, except vanity and affliction of spirit.

Do not wonder at this, My Child: your heart is not made for this world. Therefore, whatever this world contains is unworthy of your noble destiny and of your hearts affection.

You are created for greater things, you are born for things ever lasting, you are destined to things without limit. Do not then give yourself up to what is low and mean, since you are made to rule forever.

What could it avail you to gain the whole world, if you should lose your soul? Surely you would be twice as unhappy; here on account of the wicked state of your conscience you would suffer a torturing agony; hereafter; you would have to undergo everlasting misery.

Blessed, therefore, is he who spurns whatever may mislead the heart; who nobly casts aside every obstacle to true felicity; who, mindful of his noble destiny seeks happiness above all in his Creator.

The voice of the Disciple - My God, My Saviour, You did create me for happiness; thus far I have not ceased to seek it, still I have never yet tasted, nor have I ever yet found happiness.

My passions were ever and anon crying to me; here it is, or there it. In my madness I believed them, and blinded by my unruly desires I ran hither and thither; but, instead of the sought for bliss, I found wretchedness and tasted its bitterness.

Ah wretched me! created for happiness in You my God! I toiled in vain, while I sought it in creatures outside of You; and behold! I strayed still further away from the bliss for which I was created, and I found wretchedness, for which I was not made, and perished therein.

God, my Saviour! open my eyes that now I may distinctly see this great mistake of mine; and grant that, free from error, I may effectually seek in You that beatitude which I cannot find in creatures.

Chapter 3

The voice of Jesus: My Child, if you desire to attain true felicity, render your whole heart similar and conformable to My Heart. In My Heart you shall find peace and tranquility, which the world can not give nor take away.

If once you had entered perfectly into the interior of My Heart, you would then behold all things earthly. such as they are in themselves, not as they are esteemed by the foolish worshipers of the world.

Then you would free yourself from the irksome and unnecessary care of creatures, and think nothing worthy of itself, except what is truly good.

Now your heart, subject to continual fluctuation, changes seven times a day, so that at one time it is glad, at another sad; now calm, then troubled, again inflamed with the love of creatures, and again wearied with the emptiness of them; sometimes it glows with fervor, and next it falls into lukewarmness, and thus like the sea, it is ever changing.

But if your heart were united with Mine, a great and enduring calm would suddenly ensue.

For safe in your union with My Heart, as in a harbour of protection, you should be enabled to remain ever the same and unshaken; secure against change, whether the wind of adversity or of prosperity were blowing.

If you are sheltered in My Heart, no enemy shall hurt you. The devil, indeed, runs about seeking whom he may destroy; and many does he drag into destruction; but you he shall not approach, nor shall he disturb your peace.

O if you would acknowledge the divine gift! O if you were willing to know what good things lie hidden there! It does truly contain all that is needed for your felicity.

Continual peace, undisturbed security, true joy of heart is the portion of all those that love My Heart, and make their abode within the same.

Of what avail are riches, honour, the greatest delights, if the heart be not satisfied and at restlessness and sickliness of heart? Wretched therefore shall you be, whatever you may possess, until you shall rest in Me, who alone can give you all.

The voice of the Disciple - Experience has taught me this, O Lord; for in all things have I sought peace, and nothing have I found except trouble upon trouble.

You did assuredly will, for Your own sake, as well as for ours, that our heart should find peace in You alone. For You O Lord, did make our heart for Yourself; and restless and unhappy it must be until it repose in You.

O Heart of Jesus most sweet! O You the delight of the Most Holy Trinity! O You the joy of the Angels and Saints! O most blissful Paradise of souls! what can I wish outside of You, since in You is all that I can and must desire?

In You heaven has its beatitude; in You, the earth its felicity; since, then, You are the bliss of all, why should You not also be mine? Yes indeed, O sweetest Heart of My Jesus! You are my repose. You are my bliss forever more.

Chapter 4

The voice of Jesus: My Child, one thing above all others is necessary, to save your soul. For if she is lost, all is lost; but if she is saved, all else is saved.

Yet you shall not attain your eternal salvation, if you do not imitate My Heart.

For those whom God did foreknow, He also did predestine to be conformed to the image of His Son. Which is the image of the Son of God, whereto all those who will be saved are to be conformed, if it not be My Heart?

It is not given to everyone, to imitate My outward actions; nor does it depend on man to do the wonderful works, which I have wrought. Besides by reason of the diversity of men's conditions in life, all cannot follow My exterior manner of living; but the interior dispositions of My Heart can be imitated by all, the great and the small, the learned and the ignorant, in what ever condition they may live.

If then you desire to be saved, be conformed to My Heart; and reproduce in your heart whatever sentiments animate Mine.

Though should you distribute your possessions among the poor, though should you give up your body to the greatest penances; though should you understand all mysteries; though should you work astonishing miracles; if your heart not be after the likeness of Mine, you are nothing, and all those things shall avail you nothing forever.

By the likeness of your heart to Mine are you to be judged, and hence is your eternal state to be determined.

But all the judgment, many will say: Lord, have we not in Thy name prophesied? have we not cast out devils? have we not wrought many wonders?: And I will say to them: I do not know you: do you see the wounds which you have inflicted? Do you recognize the Side, which you have pierced, and which for your sake remained open; yet you would not enter into the same?

Whatever, therefore, you may do, it avails you nothing, unless you do it according to My Heart.

Not the outward appearance of piety, but a devoted heart makes a man truly good, and dear to Me. You will place your salvation in security, in proportion as you do conform your heart to My Heart.

Do for your salvation whatever you are capable of doing: no zeal can be too great, when an eternity is at stake. When you are about to die, you shall find that everything is lost, whatever you may have done; unless you did direct it to Me, and to your salvation. If then your everlasting salvation is of the greatest importance, remember, as much as your salvation is worth, so much is the Imitation of My Heart to be prized.

The voice of the Disciple -O eternal salvation of the soul! Important affair, you alone are to me supremely necessary! Why am I in this world if not to save my soul? Why was I redeemed, why furnished with so many means, why loaded with divine favors, if it were not that I might, with more ease and pleasure, secure my soul's salvation?

But alas! I did not yet begin earnestly that for which I am placed in this world. Ransomed as I was, I sold myself again into a more disgraceful slavery, and perished by misusing the very means and blessings, whereby I might so easily have secured my salvation and my happiness.

O Lord, My God! You could most justly have permitted that I should perish forever, and suffer that never ending destruction, which my wickedness and the wasting of Your gifts have deserved for me. Yet, since the infinite goodness of Your Heart did not allow this, and more, since by a new and exceedingly great blessing, You have induced me to value and love the salvation of my soul; I will no longer be ungrateful; I will no longer expose my soul to everlasting ruin. I resolve and promise to co-operate with your Heart's most sweet designs of saving my soul, and rendering her forever happy.

Chapter 5

The voice of Jesus: My Child, all your perfection consists in your resemblance to My Divine Heart. For My Heart, which is the Heart of God, is the standard of all virtues, is holiness itself. Whoever therefore imitates My Heart, imitates God his Saviour, perfection itself.

Now since My Heart is the model of sanctity and the source of every grace, you shall learn of My Heart, what it teaches you to do, that you may render yourself holy, and you shall draw then, the necessary strength to effect this.

If then, you will become perfect, imitate My Heart, the more conformed you are to It, the more perfect you shall be.

My Heart is humble; humility is the foundation of true sanctity. If you do not learn the humility of My Heart, you shall never possess this virtue; nor shall you know anything of it except the name. If you build the structure of perfection on anything else, it cannot be solid; and it shall be overthrown by the least breath or wind, and great shall be the fall.

Moreover, My Heart is meek, full of charity. Now charity is the perfection of holiness. But your heart shall never be inflamed with charity, unless it be enkindled by that fire of love where with My Own is burning. Woe to you if you enkindle your own heart with any strange fire; you will indeed burn being led to destruction.

You shall never acquire solid virtues, nor attain true sanctity, except by imitating My Heart.

Whatever signs of virtue you may display, how devout you may appear; as long as your heart does not imitate Mine, all of your piety shall be nothing more, than a mask thrown over your features. There is no hope of perfection, unless you propose to yourself as a pattern of perfection.

So it has been from the beginning of the world. For, in the Old Law, it was foretold and known what sort My Heart would be; and no one was numbered with the Elect, unless he had foreshadowed in his heart the qualities of My future Heart.

And from the beginning of the Church to the present time, My Heart was ever the sanctification of the Apostles, the fortitude of the Martyrs, the constancy of Confessors, the purity of Virgins, the perservance of the Just; in short, the perfection of all the Saints.

Therefore, take courage, My Child, follow My Heart, where ever I may lead you; the more closely you shall follow the same, the nearer you shall come to complete perfection.

On the Imitation of My Heart depends the entire fulfillment of the Law, all sanctity. The constant endeavor of imitating My Heart, is a sure sign of predestination.

The voice of the Disciple - O sweet Jesus, fountain of life and grace! arouse me, help me to understand and imitate Thy Heart, the standard of virtue, the pattern of sanctity. Free my heart from every illusion, from every obstacle; grant, that with a guileless and pure heart, I may seek You; that I may make Your interior thought's, the feelings of Your Heart, my own; that I may make myself inwardly similar to You!.

Alas O Lord, how unlike in heart am I to You! How little I have labored to portray the life of Your Heart by my own! Would that I had not struggled to estrange my heart and turn it away from Your Yours! O blindness, O madness of my soul!.

Have pity on me, Lord Jesus! have pity on me, according to the great mercy of Your Heart. How many there are who have not lived so long nor had so many means, and yet have sanctified themselves by becoming fervent Disciples of Your Heart.; And I have not yet begun to be holy: I am still a sinner!

It is time O Lord, it is time to begin the work of my sanctification which I have so long neglected. This arouses me, this spurs me on, that I can yet be made holy; that I can yet become the Disciple of Your Heart, that I can yet be marked with the most joyous sign of predestination.

Cheer me up Jesus most kind, give me help, give me courage: behold, now I begin.

Chapter 6

The voice of Jesus: My Child, if you will enter into the intimacy of My Heart, and taste the unutterable sweetness of Its intercourse, cleanse your heart from every evil. For I, your well beloved, am pure and stainless, I delight Myself among the lilies. How can there be a union between My Heart and yours, unless you have carefully purified it?

For who shall accuse My Heart of sin? And how can you say: My heart is clean; since your heart itself is conscious of the contrary. Alas! My Child, what a heart is yours! Born in sin, so long an abode of evil spirits, defiled and disfigured by so many stains, strongly drawn to evil and sadly estranged from supernatural good; fostering so many ill-regulated affections, the fruitful sources of sin, full of itself and of the world; accustomed for the most part, to have itself in all things for its ultimate object.

Wonderful indeed is it, that you dare invite Me to enter into such a heart, and to reside amid such uncleanliness. A wicked heart is to Me an object of abhorrence, but an unclean heart, I loathe; how then could it delight Me to dwell there? I seek a pure heart, and all My delight is to dwell there in it; and to be there, entertained among lilies.

Whoever therefore, loves cleanness of heart, shall enjoy My Presence, and shall experience the tenderness and divine sweetness of My Heart.

And what will it avail you to have been pleasing to your outward conduct, to all creatures, if by your inward dispositions, you have been displeasing to Me?

If your heart is stainless, then shall you be wholly pure; since it is from the heart that proceed evil thoughts, uncleanliness, fraud, blasphemy and all manner of evil.

Purity of your heart, therefore and nothing shall hinder you from being sweetly united to My Heart, and from tasting the fullness of Its delights. But if outwardly you turn away from evil, if you do not root sin out from your heart, you shall never be free from vices, they shall sprout forth with ten times greater vigor from within, than you shall be able to shun from without; and while you appear to stand firm, you shall sink beneath the weight of inward evils.

Come then My Child, prepare a neat dwelling place for Me in your heart, and I when I come, will be wholly yours, and you shall by wholly Mine; and there shall exist a wonderful intimacy between us, and a union known only to those who have tried it by experience.

Be of good courage, and begin from now this all important work; you can feel no true joy, until you finish it entirely. Fear of trouble hinders many from perfectly purifying their hearts. This is a device of the enemy: the wily foe - knowing that on a true and thougher cleansing of the heart depends not your salvation and perfection alone, but also that of others, and, above all, My glory - strives by every means, to keep you from this undertaking.

Give no heed to the suggestions of the crafty schemer, who cares not, whether it be by true or false means, that he attains his object. Do pray, and ask for divine grace; with this, set about your work bravely; and you shall see that all difficulties vanish before your greatness of spirit; and, to your astonishment, you shall find, that where you did look for the greatest of hardships, there you shall meet the greatest consolations.

The voice of the Disciple - I beg and beseech You, Lord, create a clean heart in me, and renew a right spirit in my interior. My whole heart is defiled with uncleanliness and from the heart, infection has spread over the powers of my soul, and over the senses of my body. Alas! O Lord! what is there in me without blemish, or altogether pure?

Send forth, I beg You, the light of Your grace, and illumine my mind; that I may know and bewail, all the evil I have done, and the good which I have neglected. O how I regret sweetest Jesus, that I have dishonoured Your dwelling place in so unworthy a manner, that I have displeased You, that I have saddened Your Heart! I grieve O my Supreme Good: I lament and abhor all my sins: I avow my malice and my ungratefulness: I implore the mercy of Your Heart.

Lord if You will. You can make me clean: wash me from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, from hidden offenses, and from those not my own, purify my heart.

Come Jesus, enter my heart, and make for Yourself a scourge with the cords of holy fear, of lively gratitude, and of pure love, and drive out all them that defile this Your dwelling place.

Behold henceforth I will give admittance to none of them; Your house shall be called a house of prayer: in it I will worship You: in it, I will love You: in it I will occupy myself with You alone.

Chapter 7

The voice of Jesus: You look then My Child, lest in your heart there be that sin which cause the death of the soul. How can you love, or dare you receive as a guest into your heart, your deadly foe; who when admitted, will without doubt, make you the slave of hell, the most wretched of men, even more base than the irrational beings themselves.

How many there are who exclaim: Alas! what evils ravage the earth! yet sin is the only evil, and there is none other besides. Avoid sin and whatever may befall You, it will turn to your advantage.

It is marvelous that a being gifted with reason, should of its own accord, commit sin, which in its very nature, is so unbecoming and detestable, that even if there were no heaven or hell, it should be shunned on account of its inherent foulness.

If you consider the infinite Majesty of Him that is offended, and the infinite meanness of the one offending; you will understand, that sin is in some sort an infinite evil.

Whoever sins mortally, assails God Himself, if that were possible: nor is it for want of will, on the part of the sinner; that the God of heaven and earth is not destroyed. So great an evil is sin, that in order to destroy this hell monster, and to satisfy the divine Justice, I, the Son of the Most High, came down from My throne of Majesty, and being made Man, suffer during life, a ceaseless martyrdom, and, at last, withering in agony, expire upon a cross.

Alas! wretched man, how can you love to do that, which has cost Me so much? Or how can you be willing, for a moment's pleasure, to renew all My toils, My sufferings, and My most bitter death?

When you sin mortally, you make yourself guilty of a far more grievous crime than the Jews, My torturers. For these, had they known Me as the Lord of eternal glory, would never had put Me to death? But you know Me: know who I am and how good I am, and you know this by the experience of My favors.

Was it not by My charity alone, that I not only created, redeemed, and preserved you; but that I ever protected, guided and cherished you more kindly than the most tender hearted parent? Whatever you are, whatever you have, I have given you My own Self: and is this the return you make?

Behold, behold if you throw to an animal, devoid of reason, a morsel of the meanest food, it shows you gratitude, as much as it is able. But I have bestowed upon boundless favors, and in return you persecute Me, even unto death! Reflect then what you should think of yourself.

O Child of My everlasting love! whom I have loved more than My life, sin no more. If you love Me, even love yourself, flee from sin. For whenever you commit a mortal sin, you die in a supernatural manner; you lose whatever merits you did possess; you do forfeit your right to the heavenly inheritance; you become a co-heir with the devils; you give the preference to misery over bliss, to hell over heaven, to Satan over Me.

Meditate on these things My Child, that you may learn fully, as far as the human mind can understand, how great an evil sin is; and that you may shun that, which alone can make you wretched for evermore.

The voice of the Disciple - O my soul! behold sin! truly the greatest of evils, that places man below the brute, blocks up the gates of heaven, throws open the abyss of hell. O monster to be abhorred, a thousand more times frightful than the demon himself.

O my God! I blush to own it, and disown it I cannot, I have become the vilest slave of sin, and by the greatest madness, the greatest ingratitude, the greatest malice; with it and by it, I have again and again insulted Your Majesty, before which the awe struck Angels tremble with reverence.

I feel wholly confounded because I have become viler than any irrational creature; I have done iniquity which my reason disapproved, and I have misused all the powers of my soul, all the senses of my body.

Lord my God! You did establish in me Your sweet likeness; and I, after having defiled the same, have substituted in its stread the horrid image of Satan; in various ways, I have rendered myself even more horrible than the devil.

He sinned through pride, when no punishment had yet been inflicted for sin; I sinned knowing, but disregarding Your vengeance: he was placed in innocence but once; I was restored to it so many times; he rose up against Him who made him - I against Him - who also remade me.

Most wretched sinner that I am; for nothing, even an object less than nothing, I have voluntarily cast aside Your friendship, the blissful peace of my soul, the right to eternal beatitude; I have delivered myself up, as a hapless slave, to the devil; thus sharing from this time his unhappy condition, and ready to partake of his never-ending torments, unless returning to my senses, I find mercy in Your Heart.

I acknowledge, Lord Jesus, that I am unworthy to find that mercy, which I have so often abused: I am not worthy to serve You, since I have become the slave of the devil. If You will treat me as I deserve, hell must be my abode.

Yet Jesus, my Saviour! there is infinite mercy in Thy Heart: my very sins show this; for unless Your mercy were infinite, You would never have tolerated the infinite malice of my sins.

O Jesus, have pity on me, according to Your great mercy. A suppliant, I implore forgiveness. I hope that You will pardon me, a wretched sinner. I am sincerely sorry for the sins I have committed, and I firmly resolve to serve You faithfully henceforth, and to love You fervently.

Chapter 8

The voice of Jesus: My Child, cleanse your heart from every fault; and keep yourself carefully from the stain of even the least sin. There is nothing, there can be nothing, for the sake of which it is allowed to commit a sin, however light. Therefore, although you might be able to save the whole world from ruin, it would be unlawful to offend Me, even in the least thing, since I am infinitely more excellent than the whole universe.

Some guard themselves against grievous offenses, but of light faults they render themselves guilty without scruple; a clear sign they are rather governed by self love, than by love for Me. Deluded souls, they will learn at their cost, how greatly they have deceived themselves.

Whoever overlooks little things; will gradually fall in great ones; and, having accustomed himself to think everything little, he will still fancy all is well with him; when without much uneasiness of conscience, he will commit great sins.

In his folly, he finds it delightful to walk on the brink of the precipice: yet, it will come to pass, and that justly too, that, at the first slip of his foot, he is thrown headlong into the abyss. Beware therefore of venial trespasses, lest you fall into mortal sins. As long as you yield, even to the slightest fault, so long will you expose your salvation to danger.

Many seem heartily to abhor the renewal of My death by mortal sin: and yet they do not cease by small offenses, to load My Heart with bitterness and inflict It with continued sorrows.

Ah, My Child, consider again and again, and carefully attend to what you are doing. For while you are willing to afflict a small wound on My Heart, perhaps you shall mistake, as has happened to many, and you shall pierce My Heart with a mortal blow.

O perverseness of the human heart! Many dread more to give offense to the meanest of men, than to Me, their God and Saviour.

So long as you continue to sin, even slightly, you shall be ill at ease; nor shall you taste true happiness. If you have your perfection at heart, as it behooves, unless you avoid every voluntary sin, you shall labour in vain, whatever efforts you may make. For venial sin lessons charity, brings on Luke warmness, viciates acts of virtue, obstructs the sources of special grace; and finally, despoiling by degrees, the soul of her possessions, leaves her empty.

And for what is it, in most cases, that man exposes himself to evils so numerous, and so great? is it not for self interest, or for self gratification? But, consider how great a loss will ensue, and how severely you shall have to suffer in Purgatory.

These torments are undergone, which far exceed all the pains of this world, and all the ills of life: nor shall you go from it, until you have paid the last farthing.

How exceedingly shall you then deplore, that you did commit even the smallest offense, on account of which you perceived too late, alas! that you are excluded from heaven, and most sorely tormented?

Do not My Child, render useless My Heart's desires and endeavors of making you happy; neither be so thoughtless as to choose to be unhappy, in spite of Me.

The voice of the Disciple - Venial sin, O Lord is then no small evil, since it offends Your divine Majesty, wounds Your Heart, deprives the soul of special graces and helps, hinders her progress, viciates her good deeds, prepares the way for her destruction, exposes her to the danger of everlasting perdition, and excludes her from heaven.

And evils so great, I have deemed small! O what madness was mine! And, what is worse, I have committed them without number, without measure. My transgressions have exceeded all bounds.

Where are the limits? Behold! as many powers of the soul, and senses of the body as there are in me, so many kinds of sin: as many gifts and favors, so many faults of misuse or ungratefulness: as many species of employments, so many acts of offenses. Alas! among all my actions, even those of religion or of piety, which is the one where You do not find some shortcoming?

O my soul, we commit so many faults through want of attention, by surprise, and through frailty; should not these suffice? Should we add greater ones through carelessness, through the abuse of our free will, through malice? Is this the return we make to the Lord, by Whose goodness we live, to Whose love we owe whatever we are and whatever we possess?

O Lord God my Saviour! that I have not perished beneath the weight and multitude of my offenses, this I acknowledge is altogether due to the kindness of Your Heart: to Your Heart's Mercy it is owing, O Lord that I have not been utterly destroyed.

I have been lowered to the dust: my strength has forsaken me; darkness has over spread me: my heart itself has grown faint within me. Lo! ever deeper have I sunk, and through very weariness, I am now unable to extricate myself. O how great is my misery! O who shall give water to my eyes and strength to my heart, that I may weep, and move You O Lord to set me free!

Have pity on me, good Jesus! and deliver me; cleanse and renew me wholly. Inflame my heart with the love of Your Heart: with Its divine fire do You consume my offenses: nor keep them for the fire of purgatory. Here, I beg You, here let me burn and be cleansed in the fire of Your sweet love; not there in the fire of avenging flames.

Behold! O most sweet Jesus, love for You will now make me do, what fear has so far been unable to effect: through love for You, I will shun every sin, even the slightest.

Chapter 9

The voice of Jesus: Well beloved, if you have come to this, that your heart has nothing forthwith to reproach you, rejoice, rejoice, because peace like a stream of bliss is yours.

A good heart makes the soul happy, gladdens heaven, terrifies hell. But a wicked heart fills the sinner with wretchedness, moves the Saints with pity, inspires the demons with fiendish joy and exultations.

Picture to yourself all the possible calamities of this world; you shall never be able to imagine misfortunes so great, as those which the sinner bears in his heart. How hard, how abject, is the slavery of the sinner! with how many chains, and how tightly lies the fettered beneath the yoke of the basest masters, the demon and his own tyrannical passions!

His understanding is bound with the chain of a dull ignorance, so that he may not see the truth; his will is chained with the fetters of an accursed malice, that he may not love goodness. His senses are riveted with the fetters of concupiscence, and he may not follow righteousness: he is pressed down by the weight of the chains of his passionate desires, that he may not gain the sweet freedom of grace.

Who is more foolish than the sinner, who is himself the cause of his deepest degradation? If on earth there be a foretaste of hell, it is surely in the heart of the wicked; who, inflamed with the fire of his passions, suffers all the tortures of an evil conscience.

How can he ever truly rejoice, who knows that were the slender thread of life broken, he should be hurled into the depths of hell?

Verily, I do not know how he dares take himself to his nightly rest, who knows whether he shall not wake finding himself in eternity as a reprobate?

The human heart necessarily strives after happiness: but, blindly hurried away by a mind unbridled and unsubdued, the sinner seeks happiness where only great misery can be found. Some seem to imagine that they might be able to satisfy their passion by gratifying them completely; and that, when they are sated, then at last peace will come. Alas! how great an error! For who, in order to put out a conflagration, will cast fresh fuel on the fire? Would he not, by so doing, rather increase than extinguish it?

Even so, if a man should sacrifice to his passions the salvation of his soul, and the health of his body, unsated still, they would exclaim: 'Yours we are, give us food.'

Oh, were the heart of the sinner exposed, what wretchedness, what disgustful objects might be descried there! Yet all things are open and visible to Me, Who cannot err and Who men cannot deceive.

A heart given to evil habits, sometimes goes so far that it no longer fancies, loves or relishes anything, except that which may gratify the passions and, although it knows that it is hurrying on to an abyss of misery yet it heeds not, but like a senseless beast, it runs after its lusts, trampling under foot, not the good things of eternity alone, but also decency and honor and life itself.

The sinner needs no enemy to hurt or torment him: he himself is his own greatest enemy, and most cruel torturer. Even from the things which he seeks to delight and gratify himself, he is want to receive manifold tortures.

How can he enjoy peace, who nourishes within himself the cause of his disturbance? or how can him himself once breathe freely, who is the slave of the devil? How unhappy must he be, who allows Satan to seat himself on the throne of his heart, and to be lord and master of him!

Blessed is he, that has never experienced the slavery of the devil; that has never groaned beneath the weight of the shackles of sin!

My Child, if you have never yet felt the wretchedness of the state of sin, rejoice with your whole heart and never seek to know what it is to serve the devil. But, if unfortunately, you are his subject, have pity on your soul: eagerly cast off his yoke, burst his chains, enjoy the freedom of the children of God.

The voice of the Disciple - O Lord, how great is the wretchedness of the state of sin! How truly unhappy is the soul, that languishes in this most pitiful state! what peace, what joy can she possess, when she has You, the Almighty and All knowing One, for an enemy! when she knows herself banished from Your Heart, her last place of refuge! when she is conscious that at any moment she may be plunged into everlasting fire.

How truly unhappy, when she cannot look up to heaven without seeing that she has lost all right to the same! when she cannot look around her, without being upbraided, without being terrified at every accident! when she cannot even cast down her eyes, without being silently reminded that hell is her dwelling place!

How truly unhappy when she cannot turn to her own heart without finding Satan there! without being tortured there as in a hell tasted before hand, where there is nothing joyous, nothing consoling; but everywhere horror and darkness and dread and torments.

O Most wretched soul; how changed from that you were, when adorned with celestial grace, ennobled by divine adoption, you were so fair, so great, as to an object of wonder to the Saints and Angels. How disfigured by sin; how abject; how base under every aspect.

O Jesus! would that I were able, even at the price of my blood, to undo that which has unfortunately been done; if I had never fallen into so great a wretchedness, but that I had lost my life instead of Your grace!

O blessed are they, that have never lost their innocence; that have never experienced the misery of the state of sin!

Restore to me, I entreat You, my first garment; give me back my innocence; and lo, in the newness of life I will serve You as to preserve it, stainless for You all my days, even to the end.

Chapter 10

The voice of Jesus: Come to Me all of you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.

He that is just let him come, that he may be made still more just; he that is lukewarm, let him come, that he may become fervent; he that is a sinner, let him come, that he may be cleansed and made holy.

Alas for human frailty! Where is the man, that has not sinned? For, whoever shall say that he has no sin, deceives himself, and the truth is not in him.

My Child, if you feel yourself burdened with sins, or troubled with defects, hasten to My Heart. Here, shall you be made free; here you shall breathe again.

Do not let the greatness of your sins hinder you, nor the grandeur of My Majesty. I came not to call the just to repentance, but the sinners.

The greater the miseries to which you are subject, the greater the pity I feel for you: and the more you are ill, the greater the need you have for a physician.

I am not astonished at your infirmities; for I know your frame and your heart. That you did not fall into greater evils, you owe chiefly to My grace. But at this I wonder, that, when I present Myself to heal you, you are unwilling to be healed; or, if you are willing, you seem to doubt My goodness.

Ah! My Child, do not offer this most bitter insult to My Heart. For My Heart loves to forgive and does not grow weary with pardoning. Behold, with what kindness I treat truly repentant sinners, so that I have even been called the friend of sinners.

Where is the heart that loves as My Heart? No man has a greater love than that he lay down his life for his friends; but I, the Son of God, have a greater one than this, for I laid down My life for My enemies.

Whoever loved Me first? or whoever bestowed his affections upon Me, who did not experience the effects of My love?

Since many lose their innocence, before they understand clearly what innocence is, or how great its price, it is a great glory of My Heart, to triumph also over their hearts; and of sinners to make them Saints.

O if you knew the charity of My Heart, you might them be able to understand how dearly It loves faithful souls, and how sweetly It invites sinners.

Who is suffering, and My Heart is not suffering with him? Who sins, and My Heart is not affected? Who is ill, and My Heart does not afford a remedy? Who is unhappy, and My Heart does not feel it? Who, in fine, is there in the world to whom My Heart does not good?

I am a good Father; and My children, begotten on the cross, I embrace with the love of My Heart - which remains open for them, that, at all times they may have a place or refuge, nor this a common one, but the very center of My affections. While they sleep My Heart is awake to watch over them; while they are watching, It is occupied with their preservation. So great is the love that is inflamed for them, that I love and cherish each, as he were My only one.

And if someone misled by the enemy wanders away, My Heart wails over him, as over the death of an only born. I pursue him with My love, I invite, I press, I promise. But if he is unwilling to hearken to Me, I have patience, I stand at the door of his heart, and knock again and again.

If at last he resolves to return to Me; I fly to meet him, I press him to My bosom, whilst My Heart leaps for joy; because I see the child, whom I had bewailed as dead, alive and safely restored to Me.

In My joy, I call together all of heaven, that they may congratulate Me, and exult with Me.

If therefore you desire to delight My Heart, to gladden heaven and to refresh your soul, be converted to Me with your whole heart. It does not matter how much or how little you may have sinned; come to My Heart and you shall find a cure for all of your ills.

Trust in Me, My Child, and fear nothing. I call you, not to upbraid you with your faults, but that I may wash them away. Come child, come: I wait for you with open arms and a burning Heart.

The Voice of the Disciple - Behold most sweet Jesus, behold I come, aroused and reassured by the exceeding goodness of Your Heart. Coming I beseech and exclaim: kindly receive your prodigal child, returning from a far off country, squalid with sin, filled with misery.

I am not worthy to be called Your child, since I left You in a manner so unbecoming, dishonoured You so shamefully, and grieved You so much. I have sinned against Heaven and before You, guilty as I am, I dare not now throw myself into Your arms; behold, I prostrate myself in the dust before Your feet, appealing to Your paternal Heart, imploring pardon.

Lo, You did recall me when I fled away; You did seek me when I was lost; You did bear with me when I was abusing Your goodness: with wonderful mildness You did induce me to return; when at last, I come in this pitiful state, You not only receive me but, O goodness! You even embrace me! O Jesus! O never was there such a father!

Let all the Angels and the Saints be glad, and rejoice with me; let them praise and extol Your mercy forever! Behold now I am Yours for ever more; ever faithful I will love You, O Lord, and, through love for You, I will comply with all Your wishes.

Chapter 11

The Voice of the Disciple - Numberless O Lord, are the things which urge me on to free myself entirely from faults. Heaven holds out promises, hell threatens, earth can at any moment hurl me into eternity.

My heart, also full of Your gifts, impelled by its own wretchedness as well as drawn by the infinite goodness of Your Heart, never ceases to incite me.

But how shall I perform such a great undertaking? For, although I see that I ought to do it, yet I do not know how to accomplish it.

Do, I beseech You, good Jesus, teach me the manner of truly amending and reforming myself. All the glory then arising, shall belong to You, and to Your most loving Heart.

The voice of Jesus: My Child, if you wish to cleanse your heart, and to root out everything vicious, begin the work with a great courage and a generous mind. Have the good and determined will of correcting yourself, and never cease to strive after complete cleansing; at the same time cherish a sincere desire of co-operating with the divine grace, and of following its guidance; and then your endeavors shall at last be crowned with success.

This is the first and chief means on your part; from it all the rest derives its strength and efficacy, and without it, however powerful it may be, of itself can hardly effect any good.

The strong determination of ever striving, with God's grace to cleanse the heart, and to preserve it unsullied is the first hope of future purity of heart, the first sign of future perfection, the first token whereby future Saints are disguished, the first characteristic mark of the true Disciples of My Heart.

Being made ready for the work, by this disposition of your soul, take fire, and enkindle your heart, that you may consume the sins and defects which exist therein.

Understand Child, what I say. You have to clear a garden, all bristling with noxious plants and weeds, and disfigured with filthy objects; you shall succeed, however, if you use the proper means, if you cut away all things hurtful, if you tear up and carry out everything useless; but you shall not finish your work, except after a long time, with hard labour.

But by applying the fire, without trouble and in a short time, you shall see the whole garden clean. No. more, by this burning, the garden itself shall become richer, and better suited to produce flowers and fruits.

In the like manner, Child, you will cleanse your heart which may be like this garden, much more readily and more easily by using the fire of divine love, rather than by any other means. Thereby also, you shall find your heart better adapted to produce the flowers of virtue and the fruits of sanctity.

Now this fire you may obtain from My Heart, if your draw near to It, through prayer. If you pray not with the lips alone, but also with your mind and heart.

For if you weigh properly in your mind the sufferings of hell, or of purgatory which you have so often deserved: if you consider attentively My divine favours bestowed upon you, and all of your ungratefulness. If you meditate carefully on My infinite perfections so worthy of all love and honour and on your offenses, so deserving of punishment: If moreover, you view Me exhausted with toils through love for you, and suffering so many things, for your transgressions - hanging on the Cross, with arms extended; and with My Bosom opened for you. If in fine you enter in My Heart Itself and consider to what degree that innocent Heart did suffer for your sins, and how, for them It was spent and consumed: If at the same time through loving desires, and fervent petitions, you apply, as it were your heart to Mine.Then, with doubt, in prayer, shall blaze out that fire, that heat of divine love of which I am speaking.

From this love do you draw forth contrition; that is sorrow for sin committed, and a resolve not to sin again in the future. No one My Child, obtains the pardon of his sins, unless he bewail them; nor is anyone healed of his vices, unless he hate them.Wherefore, as much as you are able, do you hate and detest in your heart, your sins and vices; which you cannot hate or detest too much.

The more you shall draw this sorrow from the divine love, the more perfect shall your contrition be, even if you do not actually feel the same. And the more sincerely you shall bewail and detest your sins with an upright heart, the more certain you shall be of the pardon of your offenses, and the more secure against committing new ones.

Therefore, have you, and preserve always, a firm resolve of shunning whatever you know to be displeasing to Me; and of rather suffering all the evils of this life, than to commit a voluntary sin.

But take heed, in case you deceive yourself, by imagining, that any kind of resolve will be sufficient. For a vague resolve is not enough; a resolution made through custom, or for forms sake, is not enough neither does an ineffectual purpose suffice - when one appears to will and not to will; when, as he fancies, he is willing to sin no more, and yet he is unwilling to effectually use the means necessary to avoid sin.

It is requisite, My Child, that the resolution be really sincere, settled, and efficacious, that by it you may be induced to employ the means, which hinder you from again committing sin.

Now, to keep this resolution ever alive within you, renew it often, pray frequently, nourish the devotion by spiritual exercises, and thus obtain for yourself that special grace whereby you may more easily become constant and persevering.

The voice of the Disciple - My heart O Lord is truly like an abandoned field, where many noxious weeds spring up and many useful plants lie spoiled.

It is a great work to clear the heart of all these, and, of myself I can do nothing profitable. But I beseech You to help me with Your efficient and powerful grace, that I may be able to finish happily so great an undertaking. For I desire eagerly to complete, according to Your direction, a work so necessary, so useful, so holy; and am resolved not to leave it off, before I have finished it in reality.

Do not suffer, O most kind Jesus, that I ever grow slothful or careless, in so important an enterprise. For I confess, that I am prone to grow weak in courage and that I am wont even after all I have begun with zeal by degrees to fall into lukewarmness. But please arouse and encourage and stir me up strongly, do not allow me to cease from my labour until I bring the work to its wished for completion.

Chapter 12

The voice of Jesus: My Child, My Heart knowing that the frailty of mortals is of such a nature, that while on earth, they cannot live without sin, - has devised a saving means, whereby if it is rightly used, they may not only obtain the remission of their sins, but also receive an increase of grace.

God is faithful, and according to His word, He forgives their sins to those that confess them; and He gives grace to those that pray for it, and seek to live better. (1 John i.9, and v. 14).

What would become of man if there were no Confession? How few would be saved! And how many of those who now rejoice in Heaven, or who shall possess it hereafter, should be lost!

Therefore I have given power to the Church, that who sins she shall forgive they be forgiven them; and who sins she retains, they be retained. (Matt 18. John 20)

If then, either hatred or infidelity, or any other sin have secretly crept into the heart of anyone, let him not be ashamed to confess to him that presides, that, through the word of God, and through wholesome advice, he maybe healed by him (St, Clement of Rome. I. Century).

But, if you would withdraw yourself from Confession, meditate in your heart on hell, which Confession will extinguish for you. Therefore knowing that against hell, after the first safeguard of Baptism, there remains still this second help in Confession. Why do you abandon your salvation? Represent first to yourself the greatness of the punishment and you will not hesitate to take the remedy. (Tertullian 11. Cent).

For there is a remission of sins, although a toilsome one, through Penance, when the sinner moistens his couch with his tears and when he is not ashamed to make known his sins to the priest of God and to seek a remedy. (Origen 111. Cent).

This remedy of Confession is eagerly to be desired by all, since the soul is harassed for hidden diseases must be applied as soon as possible (Lactantius 1V. Cent)

Confess, then: let all corrupted matter come out and flow off in Confession: what remains shall be easily healed. Do you fear to confess when by not confessing, you can not be remain concealed? God, who knows all things requires Confession, that He may free the humble: for this He condemns him that does not confess, that He may punish the proud. (St. Augustine. V. Cent.)

Man ought to abstain from sin, when he has confessed: Confession goes before, remission follows. (St. Isidore V11. Cent.)

For "the Church which is founded on Christ has received from Him the power of freeing men from their sins." (Ven. Bede V111. Cent.)

If sinners are unwilling to confess their sins, God Himself who is now their witness, shall also be their avenger. (Haymo 1X. Cent)

Sins should not be repeated publicly; it is sufficient to make known to the priests alone, by a private confession, the faults of conscience. (Luitprand X. Cent)

Therefore reason moves, and God impels the sinner to confess. (St Peter Damian XL. Cent)

Confession is necessary to the sinner; and is no less proper for the just. (St Bernard. X11Cent.)

Confession should be made in a three fold manner; without palliating, without excusing, without delaying. (St. Bonaventure X111. Cent)

Let the penitent, therefore accuse himself before the priest, with a lively feeling of sorrow, with a firm purpose of amendment, and let him perform the works which may be enjoined. (Thauler X1V Cent.)

Penance is a Sacrament, the matter of which consists in the acts of the penitent, which are divided into three parts. The first is contrition of heart; the second, is the oral Confession: the third, satisfaction. (Council of Florence. X1V. Cent.)

What can be more advantageous than rightly to confess? Through Confession man is freed from faults, he returns into favour with Me, he receives peace of heart; so that he who before felt himself tortured with anguish now finds himself calm and happy.

The Sacrament of Penance is the medicine of the soul whereby vices are healed, temptations put to flight, the snares of the devil destroyed, new grace is impaired, piety increased, virtue rendered more and more solid.

Through Confession, the soul regains her rights which she had lost by committing sin; and recovers her beauty, which unrighteousness had disfigured.

But it sometimes happens that the sinner when he approaches this Sacrament of divine mercy, impelled either by shame or fear, throws himself into the abyss of sacrilege; so that now he is not simply a sinner, but becomes a frightful monster of sin.

Are you able wretched man, to hide yourself from Me? Are you able to hinder Me from thrusting you down into that lowest depth, which you yourself have dug?

Do you sacrilegiously conceal your sins from a Confessor, who by the strictest laws, human and divine is bound to an everlasting and complete secrecy? I will make them known before your face, not to one man alone, not to one nation, but to Heaven and Earth, to all who ever have existed.

Then, in the excess of you confusion, you will call upon the mountains, that covering you they may screen you from shame; you will wish to hide yourself in hell; you shall not be able; you shall , publicly, your whole confusion and deserved ignominy.

Foolish man! You was not ashamed to sin to your disgrace and perdition; why do you blush to confess for your salvation and glory?

But, consider; why should you hesitate to unfold your conscience before him who is appointed by Me and holds My place in your regard? When you present yourself as a penitent, before him, you ought indeed, to look upon the Confessor, even as upon Myself; for he represents Me, and possesses My power.

Yet he also is a man, and has his own miseries; and he too, as well as yourself, is obliged to make Confession; which is all the harder for him, as by reason of his elevated condition, he ought to be more perfect.

Thus has it been ordained from heaven in a most wise and holy manner, that all priests no less than laymen - who desire to be freed from grievous sin, should be obliged to confess; and that it be especially proper that the priests, who sacred employments demand a greater holiness, should cleanse themselves, by frequent Confession, even from slighter trespasses.

Hence lament confess with greater freedom and confidence to the priests; and priests learn, by experience to feel compassion for their miseries, to be weak with them that are weak, and to weep with them that weep.

But there are those that confess their sins candidly enough, and yet are not improved. And why? Because they do not strive with a sincere heart to correct themselves.

Some approach the Sacrament of Penance from necessity, others through human respect, others again through certain custom. Why wonder, then, if they that approach in this manner derive from it but little or no fruit?

Do you My Child - having ever your salvation and My good pleasure before your eyes, make each Confession as if it were to be the last of your life; thus will you experience sweet and wonderful effects.

Yet know yourself, My Child, and learn, that you shall often be tempted to do again those things over which you have wept, and which you had resolved to shun.

Do not on that account, lose courage, Child, nor be you saddened overmuch. These will be the effects, not of malice, but of frailty; being involuntarily, rather than deliberate transgressions.

Then learn you the goodness of My Heart, ever ready to pardon you; and, in like manner, the pitiful condition of your heart, which is ever inclined to evil, and frequently betrays you.

Beware however, lest on account of this your great frailty, you neglect Confession; but the weaker you feel yourself, the more frequently have you recourse to it.

Some hold Confession in dread and do not approach it without trembling. Behold the greatest sinners, as well as the greatest Saints, find consolation there, and are you tormented with anxiety!

There the dead return to life and the living live more fully. Why then do you tremble as if you were going to death, or to the rack?

You err, My Child, you err; this most wholesome Sacrament was not instituted for torturing, but for solacing the heart.

Cast aside then all uneasiness and anxiety. I am not a God of agitation, but of peace; I find My delight not in the commotion, but in the good will of the soul. Do what you can and confess with as a sincere a heart as you are able to do; after that, remain in peace. Do not be disturbed by the suggestions of the enemy, or of your own imagination.

My Heart is the place of refuge for sinners. As often as anyone flies to It with a contrite and humble heart, I will neither cast him off, nor will I despise him.

Do then, frequently resort to that divine bath, wherein My Heart will wash your soul with My Blood and wash her yet more, until she be wholly pure and stainless.

Note: This may be explained by a truly wonderful and consoling fact related in the life of St Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, when on a certain day, in the Church of her Convent, where Confessions were being heard, this holy virgin was pouring forth her heart before Our Lord, present in the Tabernacle, and whilst she was wrapped up by divine communications, she perceived that the spiritual world became in some manner, unveiled before her. For she saw the souls, such as they were, of each one of the penitents, whilst they were confessing. And at the moment when the Sacramental absolution was given, she beheld the divine Blood of Jesus mystically poured upon each of them, and washing them, so that they became pure and fair. Now if such be the effect of one Confession, what must be the effect of frequent Confession? If the soul becomes so pure, so beautiful, when washed only once in the Blood of the Heart of Jesus, which is applied to us in the Sacrament of Penance; how pure, how beautiful must she become, when she is thus cleansed frequently! Brown and spoiled linen is not only made clean by frequent washing, but is made as white as snow. Shall not then a soul, often washed in the divine Blood of Jesus, become, at last, perfectly pure and unutterably beautiful? This most pious thought may at least serve to increase your love for the holy Sacrament of Penance; and while you receive it, actually, ought sweetly to occupy your mind and greatly console you.

The voice of the Disciple - O most benign Jesus, how wholesome, how consoling a device of Thy Heart, is the Sacrament of Penance! How astonishing a condescension, how wonderful a sweetness that of the Blood of Your Heart make a bath, where You may cleanse us from our sins!

Had not Your Heart found out this secret, so full of all consolation, who could of thought of it? And had You not made it known, what should of become of us, what of me?

Thanks to You, most sweet Jesus! let the Angels and all the Blessed, let all peoples and tongues return thanks to You, for that You did institute this life-giving, this sanctifying Sacrament, whereby the guilty dwellers of earth are saved, and heaven is filled with a multitude of Saints.

So that I may not misuse so great a blessing, and that I may gather from it every desirable fruit; behold, I will not only confess frequently, but also carefully; as if preparing myself for death, I will always before making my Confession, elicit from my heart an act of pure sorrow, and of firm resolve, peacefully indeed, but with the greatest sincerity as well: I will lay every fault before my Confessor, with the same Candor that I would use before You, were I to behold You with my eyes; : at the earliest opportunity I will perform the penance enjoined: lastly I will strive to be grateful, and to live with a new fervour, and a purer heart.

O Jesus! what consolation, what sweetness is felt when my soul in this Sacrament of Your mercy, is washed and cleansed by the most sacred and pure Blood of Your Heart. O wash me frequently, I beseech You, and I shall be made wholly clean; wash me yet more, and I shall be made whiter than snow!

Chapter 13

The voice of Jesus: As I live, I desire not the death of the sinner, but he be converted and live.

If the sinner does penance for all the sins which he has committed and keep all My commands, living he shall live and not die. The ungodliness of the ungodly shall not hurt him, in whatever day he shall turn away from his ungodliness; the sins which he has sinned shall not be imputed to him.

Why then are you troubled, My Child, or why do you fear so immoderately? Am I like a man, that I shall lie or change? Did I say it, and shall I not do it? Did I promise, and shall I not make it good? Did I swear, and shall I not keep My word? Why do you doubt, O man of little faith? Amen: heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

Behold, God, My heavenly Father, who, for your salvation, did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him up for you, no less than the rest, did He not give you, together with Him, all other things, pardon. perseverance, Paradise, every blessing?

Through Me, therefore, the only begotten Son of God, you have become rich in all things, so that you be wanting in no grace, for where sin abounded, there grace did abound more. Go then with confidence, to the throne of grace, that you may obtain those things that are needful to you.

My Child, I came down from heaven, that I might snatch you from the jaws of hell; all the days of My life, I was in suffering, that you might be happy through all eternity; I was willingly condemned to die, that you might be free from everlasting death; and all these things I did for you when you were my enemy, what then, will I not do, or what can I refuse, when you love Me?

If your sins frighten you, know, My Child, that My infinite merits are infinitely more powerful to save you, if you are willing, than your sins to destroy you, if you are uneasy. If by reason of your sins, you stand in dread of My judgment, call to mind, that, I your Saviour, who, even at the right hand of God, My Father, intercedes for you, shall be your Judge.

Enlarge, therefore your heart in the Holy Spirit, whom you did receive in the Sacrament of Divine Mercy. That Spirit of love, that consuming fire,will destroy the remnant of your sins, and cast out all inordinate fear. Have you been an exceedingly great sinner, like the thief crucified with Me; have you like Paul, persecuted Me; have you even denied Me, like Peter; behold; if once you confess rightly, so as to enjoy the effect of the Sacrament, all your sins are forgiven you.

Why are sad, My Child, and why do you disquiet yourself? do you think that I am a harsh master, who is difficult to satisfy? You are mistaken, Child; you are greatly deceived. For, behold, am I not a Father, whose heart is goodness itself? Do you not know this? Have you not experienced it? Do not then dishonor Me; do not revile Me by attributing to Me things that are so wrongful.

My Child, you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of the sons of God, whereby you may love and address Me; 'Abba Father!' Do not then fear, Child; do not by worrying yourself uselessly, lose the time which you ought to spend happily in loving Me. For I do not require anguish but love. Have confidence, My Child, that your sins have been forgiven you. Do now strive to love Me the more, the more I have forgiven you.

The voice of the Disciple - O Jesus! O my love! my life! How delightful to me, how sweet are the words You utter from Your Heart! O Lord, my God! You did not wash my feet, not my head alone, but my soul, my whole self, and that with Your own blood. Behold, you cast my sins into the depth of a sea, into the abyss of the mercy of Your Heart, where they have disappeared from Your sight.

O Jesus! how can I ever be unmindful of Your mercies, whereby You have restored me to life! I will sing Your mercies, O Lord forever; I will praise the goodness of Your Heart forever more. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let that is within me bless His Sacred Heart. Bless the Lord, O my soul and never forget all He has done for me. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor has He rewarded us according to our iniquities; but He has blotted them out according to the multitude of the mercies of His Heart.

As a father has pity on his children, so has the Lord had pity on us; because He is good, because His mercies endure forever.

Love the Lord, O my soul, love Jesus, love Him much; because He has forgiven you much. Let them love less to whom He has forgiven less; but by the greatness of your love, strive to make suitable return for the greatness of His bounty.

O most sweet Jesus, I will love You with my strength. I will not henceforth pass my time in vexing my heart, Thy Kingdom now; but I will employ it better, more usefully to me, more pleasingly to You; Your love shall ever be my occupation. In peace in the self same, will I take my rest and repose.

Chapter 14

The voice of Jesus: My Child, have you fallen into sin? Do not again give yourself up to it; but guard against the future so as not to return to the past. When the demon has been expelled from the heart, he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and returning, attempts to enter again. If man does not resist, the enemies enter, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. If you desire not to become the prey of hell, you must, by all means, resist the temptations of the devil.

Do not be afflicted or sad My Child, because you are assailed against your will by various temptations; be rather rejoiced and consoled. Because it is a sign that you are in a state of grace, and that you follow My standard. If you did adhere to the devil, he would surely not attack what is his own; but because you stand by Me, therefore does he tempt you, and endeavor to draw you over to his ranks.

My Child, temptation is not prevarication; so long as it is displeasing to you, it is meritorious of a divine reward. Therefore, however loathsome the things which the enemy may suggest, be not uneasy; however violently he may entice you to evil, think not that you are forsaken by Me.

Never am I nearer to you, or more ready to help you, than when you suffer under these trials. When you are tempted, Child, I stand by looking on the struggle and helping you, that being thus encouraged and aided, you may not only withstand the foe, but gloriously triumph over him. Therefore be ready for the combat; no one shall be crowned unless he has struggled lawfully; and that he that shall overcome shall receive the crown of life.

As you dwell among enemies to the right and to the left, and are exposed to their assaults from within and from without; you ought to be so well armed at all times that they can never find you defenseless. Have your heart lifted up and united to Mine with a determined and generous resolve to endure all things, even to die in the struggle rather than you turn your back on me. Otherwise you shall not be able fully to withstand the stubbiness of the contest.

In this warfare two kinds of weapons are necessary to you; the one defensive the other fensive. Humility will furnish you weapons to defend yourself. By means of this virtue place no reliance upon yourself, put all your trust in Me; and being confined of your own frailty, shun as much as you are able, all dangerous occasions. For it was an inexcusable, and most shameful presumption to seek them or go to meet them, especially if they are of the flesh.

If, nevertheless, the foe assails, call upon Me; rely upon My help, confidently and lovingly. He that prays amid temptation, as he should, cannot be over come; but he that neglects prayer, is usually vanquished. Resist generously from the very beginning of the temptation, and pray fervently in this, or a similar manner: 'O Jesus! hide me within Your Heart, that I may not be separated from You..... O God my God, come to my assistance...Jesus and Mary make haste to help me...I would rather die O Lord than commit the sin'. If the enemy continue to tempt, faithfully withdraw your mind from the object of the temptation; and having earnestly turned it to other things, either good or indifferent, persevere in prayer, persevere in resisting, not with anxiety or impatience, but calmly and steadily; and the foe shall either flee away, or stand abashed.

Let it not be enough for you to repulse Satan; strive, also, to injure him. This you can do by means of the weapons which divine love will furnish you; you turn the temptation of the enemy against himself.

As often, therefore, as the demon tempts you, so often use the temptation against his aim and object, that you may unite yourself more closely with Me; glorify Me by your faithfulness, and acquire for yourself greater strength and merit. So it shall come to pass, that your adversary, frightened by his defeat, either dares not return, or, if he dares, will secure for you a more signal victory and a brighter crown.

But, if ever you be so unfortunate as to fall, rise without delay; with more humility and courage; and beware, above all, in case you surrender and make yourself a slave to the foe,. Many have been lost because after having fought bravely-, when they were on the point of gaining the victory, - cast down by the troublesomeness of the temptation, they surrendered disgracefully, and perished miserably.

Up then, My Child; the struggle is short, but the prize is everlasting. Be magnanimous; courage is a great part of the victory. It prepares you for grace; it raises the heart, increases strength, moderates labor, frightens and weakens the enemy. For Me, your God and Saviour, for your salvation, for an everlasting crown, for the very Kingdom of Heaven, fight bravely and display a sight worthy of God, of the Angels and of men.

The voice of the Disciple - Thanks to You O most benign Jesus, Who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war. Behold, You also cheer my heart and give me courage, so that I am ready to put forth my strength and to act valiantly.

But I know, and I confess, that of myself I am weak and cowardly; if I am left to myself alone, if I rely upon myself alone, what can be looked for, except that I shall shamefully fall away from You and perish ignobly? Give me grace, I beg You, that I may not presume, that of my own accord, I may not expose myself; but that I may with prudence shun every occasion of falling, and by watchfulness, escape all the snares of my foes.

And at times when You should see me attacked by the enemy, or engaged with him, do arise I beg You, hasten to my assistance; because You O Lord are my strength. Be near me, I pray. Set me bedside You and let any man's hand fight against me; wit You I will conquer, with You I will triumph.

Chapter 15

The voice of Jesus: My Child, to obtain perfect purity of heart, it is not enough to cherish a good will, to meditate and pray frequently, to confess often and devoutly. These means are very efficient and necessary, and therefore never to be omitted nor, neglected. But alone they do not suffice; since they are not wont to pluck up completely the roots of vices and defects. It is necessary then, to use besides another means, whereby you may, so to speak, exterminate the noxious roots, and thus render your heart perfectly clean. These sweet and wholesome effects are produced in a marvelous manner, by self examination, an exercise apparently trifling indeed, and a small matter, but in itself very efficient, and more deeply penetrating than any two edged instrument, - reaching even to the dividing of the soul and the discerning of spirits, and searching into the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Nor does it serve merely to root out evil habits and defects; but, what is more wonderful, to acquire solid virtues and even to attain to perfection.

This self examination is three-fold. The first which is used to collect oneself in the heart, and inspect it for a short time, observing when it is moved and with what things it busies itself; or what it has done and in what manner; what it should do in the future and how. Opportunities of performing a very short self examination of this sort, are wont to present themselves frequently. When, for example, you begin any more of the more important actions of the day; and when you have performed them. When something is presented to your senses or to your mind, by which you may be allured, or tempted; also when you have fallen into some defect. When you meet with any difficulty which may occasion trouble, or disturb you, and lastly, as often as, during some length of time, you have not looked into your heart. Now this can be easily done, at any time and in any place, even while others are present, and without attracting their attention. In the exercise itself there is no difficulty whatsoever. At first, indeed, some attention should be used, but no straining of the mind; and in a short time you shall begin to acquire a holy and consoling habit, and gather from it the sweetest and most wholesome fruits.

The second is a general examination, by which twice or at least once, every day, you devote a short time, some minutes, exclusively to asking of yourself an account of your way of living. Having briefly returned thanks to God and begged for divine light, inspect and scrutinize, how since you did last examine yourself in your exterior and interior. Examine your thoughts, words, deeds; see where you have sinned, or failed, then, carefully mark each sin or defect, at least mentally. If you have practically learned something of the interior life, place your heart near to Mine, compare and notice the difference between the thoughts, sensations and actions of both. After, in this manner, you have discovered your faults and failings, then see and acknowledge your unthankfulness for My Divine favours; form an act of sorrow, as perfectly as possible, beg for grace to amend yourself and to make better progress.

Lastly, the particular examination is that, by means of which you exerted yourself, to root out, separately, only one vice or defect at a time. Most wonderful is the power, and the incredible the efficacy of this exercise. Would that you could understand it well. My Child, and that you did perform it in a proper manner! There is no habit so deep rooted, no vice so great which, by this means cannot be overcome and subdued. For with God's grace, it can, in some manner do all things. How many sinners have, by its means been freed from vices, which had grown on them like a second nature! How many souls has it has enabled to cleanse themselves thoroughly! How many has it helped to reach perfection! Whatever defects then you may have, be of good cheer, My Child: you are sure of victory, sure of future freedom if you use this means diligently and perseveringly. Attack first that vice or defect that may be a stumbling block, or a just cause of offense to your neighbour; afterwards, the one that seems to be your chief fault. When the leader is over -thrown, then the rest are easily overcome.

Now, your method of proceeding shall be this, resolve firmly and considerately, that during the day you will shun what you make chosen to be avoided in a particular manner; at the same time beg for grace that you may be faithful to your resolution. Then twice or maybe just once a day, according as you make the general self-examination, you shall also search and see how often, since the last scrutiny you have failed in your special resolve; and mark the number of times. Afterwards, grieve not only for your faults in general, but also for these defects in particular; and resolve again to be especially on your guard against them and for this end also special grace. Meanwhile, My Child, when you perceive yourself growing, in some way, indifferent or careless, you inflict upon yourself some small punishment; and this as often as you offend against your particular examination.

But so that you may use rightly and constantly these and other means, you need a guide to direct, to teach, to fashion you; to keep you in or stir you up and cheer you on at all times. No one when left to himself, can walk with safety in the path of the spiritual and interior life; for often he will be exposed to the danger of going astray, of losing heart, or falling into the snares of the foe; no more, of even perishing, Were you a Saint, or a chosen Apostle, you would need some guide. Was not Paul, although a Vessel of election to carry My Name among the nations, at My command, instructed and directed by Ananias? Were not the Saints trained to holiness by others that led a holy life? Pray therefore My Child, that you may be worthy to find a guide according to My Heart either in your Confessor, your Superior, or some other person who possesses authority, skill and experience in spiritual matters, and a practical knowledge of the interior life. To such a one My Child, occasionally make known your heart; at certain times give some account of yourself, that you may know whether you advance rightly; what you must correct and how it is to be done; on what you ought to insist, and in what manner it is to be accomplished.

The subjects, concerning which this interior manifestation should be made, are usually, the disclosing of the soul's state or habitual feeling, whether it be peaceful or agitated; what longing for a more perfect life you feel within yourself; what obstacles embarrass you; to what practices of devotion and mortification you are wont to apply yourself. What method you have in prayer and meditation; with what relish and fruit you advanced by this method; what spiritual books you read and whether they agree with your present degree of your interior life; whether you read in a manner proper and profitable. In what manner you approach the Sacraments, with what preparation, with what feelings of piety, with what thanksgiving, with what results.

How you make your self examinations; with what painstaking, and with what fruit. How you perform the duties of your state of life, the obligations of your office, your ordinary actions, by what motive or principle, whether of nature or of grace, with what object -with what end you have in view.

In what manner you deport yourself towards others, with what disposition of heart, with what profit or loss to yourself and to them. With what fidelity you obey God's inspirations: how you feel disposed towards Me; finally, with what degree you relish the sentiments of My Heart. Do you, My Child, modestly and religiously with humble candor and docile charity, make known such and similar matters, sometimes one and then another, according as spiritual necessity or usefulness may require.

All of this, if you should perform it in this manner, you shall find easy, most useful, and full of consolation.

The Voice of the Disciple - Lord Jesus, to execute all those things, greatly indeed, do I need light from above, -wherewith to discover my defects, - and divine assistants to remove them. For many of them lie hidden from human eyes, nor can I see them myself, neither can anyone point them out to me, unless aided by a supernatural light. But if with the brightness of this light, You deign to illuminate my inmost soul, behold! all things great and small, shall be unveiled. For even as the sun shining into a chamber reveals the very atoms that fill its every space, so Your grace gleaming on my heart, shall bring to view numberless defects, the existence of which I did not suspect.

But what shall it avail me to know my defects if I cannot uproot them? Your help therefore, is also necessary to me, who, without it, can effect nothing conducive to salvation. Lord Jesus by Your Most Sacred Heart, I beg and beseech You, grant me uninterruptedly the plentifulness of this two-fold grace, that thereby I may be enlightened and assisted. Without this grace, no assiduity of mine, no care of a director, however much he may toil, whatever zeal he may exercise can avail nothing. You therefore O Jesus, the eternal Wisdom, the infinite Goodness, You are the Supreme Director; do You, I pray, guide me, through him whom You may will to hold Your place, and with whom I am willing to act in all things as with Yourself.

NOTE: Purity of heart, being of the greatest importance, it is thought proper to bring together, in this place, the means to attain it, although they have been given separately. The first is a settled and constant determination of always trying to improve. The second stated and repeated mental and vocal prayer, the third, the pious and frequent use of the Sacraments. The fourth, the faithful practice of the three-fold self-examination. The fifth, the candid disclosing of our interior like; and, on the other hand, a holy guidance. Whoever makes a right use of these means, will doubtless attain to as great a purity of heart, as the Lord is ordinarily wont to require. But if He requires something extraordinary, He Himself will provide the means, for no one is able to make provision under such circumstances. Yet, as things are wont to be preserved by the same means that produced them, you shall preserve interior purity by the same means that have been pointed out to attain it. These then are the five loaves of the show-bread, which must be ever new and fresh before the Lord. Therefore these means are always to be used with the same care. And, lest you grow luke warm by degrees, either through frailty or carelessness, examine yourself from time to time, and make known how you use them; and if you have in any way fallen off, do as quickly as possible, strive to regain your formal fervor. As long as you shall employ these means, even with ordinary diligence, you shall have within yourself the consoling sign, that you are on the right road, which leads to perfection.

Chapter 16

The voice of Jesus: Woe to the world, My Child: woe to the heart that clings to its allurements and its vanities. It is not enough to cast Satan out of your heart, you must also expel the world. If you inwardly cherish the world, whatever else you may do wholly to amend yourself, shall be of little help to you. For the world will continue to infect your heart, will doubtless pervert and finally betray you into the power of the demon.

What is the world except an inordinate or perverse love of pleasure, riches, honours; whereby its votaries are themselves corrupted and corrupt others? If you desire to know what you ought to think of the world, consider what I Myself have judged of it. Behold! I passed through life doing good to all; I loved the enemies that persecuted Me; when fastened to the Cross, I prayed for those that crucified Me; but for the world I prayed not. The world is of the devil, is wholly placed in wickedness, and cannot possess My Spirit; even as falsehood cannot be truth, as corruption cannot be purity.

The world is itself a proof, not only of the undeniable existence - but even of the necessity of a hell. What can there be in common between the world and My Heart, since the world either openly or secretly, favours every vice; while My Heart breaths nothing, except what is holy? The world in league with Satan, its prince seeks for souls to destroy them forever; My Heart longs to save them all. You cannot therefore, serve the world and Me: for, if you are the friend of the world, you become the enemy of My Heart.

If you are a Votary of the world, you will perish with the world: but if you follow My Heart, you will go into life everlasting. If you drive the world and the maxims of the world from your heart, so as to offer it wholly to Me, the offering will be pleasing and honourable to Me, and the full of glory and merit to yourself. The Angels and the Saints will applaud the deed, and the world itself shall be compelled to admire the lofty heroism of your mind. Blessed is he My Child, who withdraws his affections from the things of the world and consecrates them to Me alone!

What do you find in the world on account of which you would love it? Behold! all that is in the world, is the desire of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And at the end of all these is death and hell. If then you love the world, or the things which are of the world, you take into your embrace everlasting perdition. What good has the world done to you that you would devote your affections to it? It has done and never will do you anything but evil. How then can you give your heart to it? Trust not My Child, the smiles and blandishments of the world; they show only a covert desire to deceive and destroy you. But hearken to the invitations of My Heart, that longs to save you from everlasting misfortunes which the world is preparing for you.

If you do not forsake the world, the world will forsake you, when you are spent and worn out in its service. It will lavish and mock at your destruction; and when you stand most in need of help, you shall be alone and powerless. Think frequently which of the two, when you about to go into eternity, you shall rather wish to have followed, the world or Me. Do freely, therefore and meritoriously now, what without merit you shall be forced to do then. Apply yourself to withdraw your heart of the love of earthly things; and by a complete disengagement from it, to triumph over the world! Have confidence My Child, I have overcome the world: if you are willing, you also can vanquish it. So soon as you shall have conquered, I will give you a most delightful place in My Heart.

The voice of the Disciple - O Lord, how foolishly have I acted! how wickedly have I lived! A willing dupe, I have been misled by the false appearances of pleasure, of riches, of honour: I have forsaken You, to make myself a slave of the world, Your enemy. I have left the fountain of every good, to go down to the pestilential pool of the world. There I made myself drunk with poisonous draughts; I grew senseless, and in my madness, I cast aside everything. I became forgetful of You my God and my All; I gave myself wholly to the world; and in its service, I unhallowed Your gifts, my external senses, and the inward powers of my soul. Alas I became exceedingly guilty; my soul was filled with iniquity: I drew myself near to hell. Your wrath came upon me, and Your terrors troubled me, so that night and day I was wretched.

Alas good Jesus! even after - seized with a great dread of Your judgment and fear of hell - I had resolved to lead a good life, into what fatal illusion did I fall! how banefully did I go astray. I divided my heart between You and the world. I wished at one and the same time, to serve You and the world. O How great an insult did I offer to You, when I placed You on an equality with the world! I pleased neither the world nor You: and meanwhile I was so wretched, because not being satisfied with the world, nor with You, I found true happiness in neither. But now that you have opened my eyes, and moved my heart, behold! O Lord Jesus, I will serve You alone: I give my whole heart to You forever. Take out of my heart, I beseech You, all affection for the world; change for me all its apparents sweets into bitterness. So fill me with the delight of Your love, that the world with all its vanities, become tasteless to me.

Chapter 17

The voice of Jesus: My Child, the whole world is made up of deceits, and by its arts and wiles, it alludes to itself the unwary. It holds out to man pleasures, honours, and riches and says, all these things will I give to you, if you serve me. But do not attend to what it promises, but to what it gives. Through the deceitful hope of pleasant things, it brings its votaries beneath the cruel tyranny of the passions, and then leads them to the ceaseless tortures of the stings of conscience. Did you ever find a worldlings, even the most fortunate, whose heart was in every way satisfied? Neither shall you find such a one, even if you search the whole earth. The world indeed promises good things; but in reality, it bestows true evils only; because what it gives makes man wicked, and hinders him, by no means from being truly happy.

The Voice of the Disciple - Yet O Lord worldlings frequently obtain possession of those things which they covet; and therefore they care little for the spiritual distresses of the heart.

The voice of Jesus: Even so, My Child; grant they abound in whatever things they may lust after in this world; as they possess them with an inordinate affection, and miss use them, they enjoy them not, except for their present and future unhappiness. Besides they appear indeed not to care for the interior tortures of the soul; but, My Child, if you could look, as I do, into their hearts, you should see how many things they suffer within, which they endeavor to hide outwardly, and you would conclude that the happiness of man consists not in having an abundance of the things of this world, but rather that he keeps his heart free from every worldly object, and calmly and permently satisfied in Me. Moreover, how long shall these things of the world last? Behold! yet a little while, and eternity shall summon them to appear. What then shall the plentifulness of delights and other things avail them? They shall leave the world taking with them nothing, except the load of their sins. Would you then be willing for the misuse of the things of time, to lose the use of those of eternity? or, for the false possessions of earth, to forfeit the true riches of heaven?

My Child, if you cling to the world, you cease, in fact, to be a Christian, and you forfeit the possession of all the privileges which belong to that noble name. For at your new birth, in the waters of Baptism, you did by a solemn promise made before heaven and earth, renounce the world and its wickedness; nor would I without that promise adopted you as My Child. If after this you go again over to the party of the world, you are not only faithless, but even worse than the heathen who made no such promise. For it is better not to promise than not to make good what is promised.

Ask the departed, what they think of the world. The Elect will answer, that their happiness began from the time they learned to despise the things of the earth; and the reprobate will reply that they were deceived and ruined by the world. Yourself, My Child, shall one day think and experience concerning the world the one or the other of these things. Be timely wise, My Child, lest hereafter you feel sorrow to no purpose: follow the footprints of the Saints, by withdrawing your heart from the world, and keeping your affections from it contagion.

Use the things of this world as if you did not use them; and while you tread the earth with your foot, have your heart in heaven. The more you shall withdraw yourself from creatures, the nearer you shall come to the Creator; and the more proper shall you be to receive divine gifts. If your heart be wholly disengaged from the world, so far from being hurtful to you, the world itself will be in many ways, subservient to your interests. O, how base the whole world would grow in your sight, if you did truly consider, what awaits you in eternity.

The Voice of the Disciple - Truly O Lord, the world is a deceiver. Such have I experienced it to be to my own loss. When it offered me its own favours, madman that I was. I believed that thereby I should be happy. But O how greatly was I deceived! how truly wretched was I, even when giddy with worldly love, I fancied myself most happy! The animal man within me made me imagine that I was happy, whilst I was feeding on the husks, which the world threw before me; and in spite of myself, I groaned full often beneath the degradation of my slavery, beneath the burden of my heart's misery. I fully acknowledge now that I was myself the author of my own unhappiness; and that I can, with justice blame no one except myself. Because I was unwilling to serve You with joy and gladness of heart, amid the abundance of all things, I became a slave to Your enemy and to mine - served him in hunger, and thirst and every want in so far even, that I delighted to fill myself with the food of the vilest animals.

Would, O Lord, that I could blot out from the number of my years, those during which estranged from You, I served the world! What fruit do I now reap from them, except bitterness, stings of conscience, anguished of heart, sins to be atoned for, either in this life by sorrow, or to be bewailed in vain in the next? Be gracious to me O my Saviour! and forgive all offenses which I committed by following the world, and which I now detest from my inmost heart. Suffer no more, I entreat You, that my heart cling again to aught - even the least object - of this wicked world: withdraw it wholly, with all its affections, from the false tinseling of earth, which contains nothing except for deceit, emptiness, and affliction of heart.

Chapter 18

The voice of Jesus: My Child, he who loves to serve the world knows not the world. The world is a true tyrant; and wretched slaves are they who serve it. How many things, what sacrifices does it not exact from its votaries, whom for all their services, it repays with unceasing evils! It demands that its slaves become the base tools for their passions; that they sacrifice body and soul; that they damn themselves without complaint. And when it has completed their destruction it forsakes them as useless wretches, fit only for hell fire.

Oh, at how great a cost do worldlings purchase their own ruin? If they did for Me the half of what they do for the world, how happy should they be, and what Saints! How cruel is the world's slavery! under it, how many interior sufferings must be undergone! what hardships endured! And all this in the hope of obtaining such things as, when once tasted, cause death; or such as will produce tortures, either at present, by the irksome possession of them, or after a while, by a bitter separation. Truly it is an iron yoke which presses on the neck of worldlings, the weight of which no one does fully know, unless he either tried it or considers it as he stands on the threshold of eternity.

Whoever desires to be saved must separate himself from the threshold of the world. There are those who by their mode of life, having outwardly bidden farewell to the world, inwardly captivated by the world, in most things, govern themselves by worldly sentiments.

There are others who by their condition in life, obliges them to live exposed to the dangers of the world; who yet have so diverested themselves of every affection of the world, that they never defy themselves with anything that is worldly. It is therefore, not the kind of life which he leads,nor the shape of dress which he wears, that connects a man with the world, or estranges him from it; but the affection of the heart, the disposition of the soul. Therefore, he that is separated in heart from the world the most, those most closely united to Me, he is dearest to My Heart, in whatever state of life he may live. Wherever then, My Divine Will has placed you, there do you serve Me in holiness. Since in every state and condition of life, which is good in itself, you can live for Me, and sanctify yourself; although it remains true that a state of life separated from the world, conduces most to secure salvation, and to reach perfection.

How many followers of the world there are, who convinced of the world's wickedness, see the necessity of renouncing it by a change of life; yet dare not do so, too fearful in case the world may rail at them. Is this your fortitude you friends of the world? Great souled-forsooth, you are all, who, through fear of empty talk, dare not do what faith dictates, what reason approves - what your greatest interest demands. What are words, but sounds passing through the air and disappearing? Can they stir so much as a hair on your head?

Shall you be so faint hearted, My Child, that, for the sake of such words that you would draw upon yourself ruin in time and in eternity? Choose either to serve Me, to be blissful in My service, and to enjoy the enduring delights of heaven hereafter; or, to serve the world, to lead inwardly a wretched life, and, at the last, to undergo never-ending torments. Behold, life and death, good and evil are placed before you. Whatever you prefer will be given to you.

The Voice of the Disciple - O kind Jesus, how could I falter in my choice? Wretched me! how could I ever choose what would render me so unhappy! O infinite Goodness, O my God! You have freed me from error and have taught me the truth. Behold I am wholly Yours forever, O Jesus, my beatitude.

Away with you, O deceitful world, most wicked seducer, enemy of God, and of my salvation; you enemy of all that is good, you defender of all that is evil; O you who are the most cruel of all tyrants!

O world, you minister of Satan! Too long have I known you; too long have I loved you. From this hour, farewell to you, farewell for evermore!

Chapter 19

The voice of Jesus: Come My Child, take up My yoke upon you; for My yoke is sweet and My burden light. My service Child, is not that of a tyrant, nor of a harsh master; but of a most loving Father, who is near His children who are submissive to Him, that He may help and entertain them. Love is the spirit of My service and love finds all things easy. My commands are not heavy and to those that love, they are exceedingly light and sweet. Try and taste how pleasant it is to serve Me; how delightful to enjoy My sweetness, how good to gain the possession of the very fountain of all good things.

If you seek delights you shall find the true ones in My service alone. All the pleasures of the world are either empty or pernicious. But My consolations surpass beyond comparison, all the delights of earth; they ravish hearts by their purity, they satiate them by their truth. Many times, they so overwhelm man, that they give him a certain foretaste of those heavenly delights, wherewith the Blessed in Paradise are inebriated.

He that serves Me, is not as the slave of the world, who toils to gather for himself treasures on earth, and in the end finds his hands empty. But he lays up for himself treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor the moth can destroy, where thieves cannot dig them up, nor carry away. All the wealth of earth, compared with the treasures of heaven, is only dust and nothingness.

If you aim to be honoured, behold! what greater honour can be desired, than to be with Me, to be approved and distinguished by Me? The glory of the world, where one man lures the other, is false and shortlived, but the glory of My service is true, and shall endure forever. Greater is the least of My servants, than the lord of a kingdom in the world.

Was there ever found a man, who at the hour of death, repented that he had served Me? Yet, at that last moment, how exceedingly do worldlings regret to have been in the service of the world! or if they do not bewail, how much more wretched are they! Truthful is the saying, My Child, that he, who serves Me faithfully during life, possesses two heavens, the one in time, the other in eternity: and that he who spends his life in the service of the wicked world, endures two hells, one now, another hereafter.

Courage! then, My Child; bend yourself beneath the yoke, which is borne by the Angels in heaven, and the Elect on earth; and beneath which they enjoy true bliss. Take it up joyously, and bear it cheerfully. You serve the same Lord that is served by the Blessed in heaven. Whilst you imitate them in their service, imitate them also in their cheerfulness. Let the slaves of sin, and of the world, be sad: joy and exultation are the portion of My servants. Serve Me then, but serve Me with gladness: let your heart, for joy, cheer up your countenance; and by the holy gaiety, teach the world, what blessedness there is in serving Me.

The Voice of the Disciple - To serve You, O most benign Jesus, is truly sweet for me: what then must it be for those who love You! What for those who have centered their heart's affection in You! If I, who only begin to love, find so great a sweetness in You; in what sweetness do they delight, who fondly devoted to You, with a generous heart, have long lived for you alone; are admitted into the innermost of Your Heart, and partake of all Your bliss most plentifully!

O Jesus, unutterable sweetness! what is man that you have exulted him so? or the son of man that You set Your Heart upon Him? Behold! to live for You, to comply with Your Will is not to serve, but to reign. In Your service, no one is a servant, everyone is a king, is a lord, for You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. In Your service, no one is miserable: each one is noble, each one is fortunate for You are the King of glory; honours and riches abound in Your house. In Your service, no one is wicked and therefore no one is unhappy: but all are good, happy all for You are the King of virtues, the peace and joy of hearts. Blessed therefore, are the undefiled, who walk in Your Law! their blessedness is ever-during for Your Kingdom is the kingdom of all ages. O most sweet Jesus! what is there for me outside of You, or what do I desire on earth besides You? God of my heart, You are my life, You my blessedness, You my portion forever.

Chapter 20

The voice of Jesus: My Child, give Me your heart. To release your heart from sin and from the world is not enough: you must disengage it from yourself. As the complete renouncement of sin renders the friendship of God steadfast, and as the putting away of the world and all its vanities prepares the soul for the interior life: so the forsaking of oneself leads to union with Me. It is therefore necessary for you to give Me your whole heart, without reserving anything for yourself, if you desire to enjoy that blessedness, of which there is none greater in this life, and by which alone you can be truly happy.

Your heart Child is Mine. For when it had no being I created it; when it was lost, I sought and ransomed it, when it lay an easy prey to the enemies, that were going to carry it off, I protected and preserved it. Thus by giving Me your heart you are only giving Me what is Mine. But, on how many accounts do I deserve its every affection! What good to do possess in your body, or in your soul, whether in the natural or the supernatural order which you did not receive from My Heart. How many years ago should you have been burning in hell, if I had dealt with you according to your deserts; or had not preserved you from sins which deserve hell and its just punishments!

But, it was My love Child, that dealt with you in so sweet and wonderful a manner; the love of My Heart, with which I loved you from eternity, and with which, even till now, I have never ceased to favour you. Your whole life has been a succession of blessings on My part, uninterrupted and manifold: nor has there been any point in time which was not marked with some new favour.

And what O Child of My love, do I ask in return for all these thousands of favours? Surely whatever I might ask of you, and whatever you may be able to give, would be far below the greatness and the number of My gifts. Yet one thing only I demand, your heart, your whole heart; it is enough if you give Me that. Your heart excepted, I care nothing for whatever you may give; because beyond all else I long for your heart. Upon who can you give your heart with more advantage? You cannot live without loving, and without giving the affections of your hea