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If you want your dream to be, build it slow and surely. Small beginning, greater and heartfelt work grows purely.

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Welcome. This is David Russell and your faith anew, daily reflections guiding you to live in the divine will. Today's reflection is from the Book of Heaven by the servant of God Louisa Picaretta, june second, eighteen ninety nine, volume two. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, place us in the light of your truth. Help us to know ourselves as we truly are, and to know you more deeply. Grant us the humility to surrender our own will and the confidence to allow you to carry us in every act. May we live entirely in your divine will. Amen. Saint Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians chapter fifteen. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them. Not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. This passage beautifully reflects the lesson Jesus teaches Louisa today. Saint Paul recognizes both his weakness and God's greatness. He understands that every good work is accomplished through divine grace. The more we know our dependence upon God, the more freely his life can operate within us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph fourteen thirty The first step toward this conversion is a conversion of heart, interior conversion. It also states in paragraph twenty five fifty nine humility is the foundation of prayer. The knowledge of self that Jesus speaks about is not meant to discourage us, but to lead us to authentic humility. When we see our nothingness apart from God, we discover the truth about ourselves. At the same time, we discover the greatness of God's mercy and love. This humility opens the soul to deeper union with Him and prepares us to live entirely in His divine will. As we continue our journey through the Book of Heaven, let us remain attentive to the truths Jesus reveals through Louisa, allowing these lessons to deepen our understanding of life in the divine will. Louisa writes This morning my most sweet Jesus wanted to let me touch my nothingness with my own hands. In the act in which he made himself seen, the first words with which he addressed me were Who am I? And who are you? In these two words I saw two immense lights. In one I comprehended God, in the other I saw my misery, my nothingness. I saw I was nothing but a shadow, just like a shadow formed by the sun in illuminating the earth. It is dependent on the sun, and as the sun moves from it to other places, the shadow ceases to exist outside of its splendor. The same for my shadow, that is my being. It is dependent on the mystical Son, God, who can dissolve this shadow in one simple instant. What to say then about how I have deformed this shadow which the Lord has given me, which is not even my own. The mere thought of it was horrifying. It was stinking, putrid, all full of worms. Yet in such a horrifying state I was forced to stand before a god so holy. Oh how content I would have been had I been allowed to hide in the darkest abysses. After this, Jesus told me The greatest favor I can do for a soul is to make her know herself. The knowledge of self and the knowledge of God go together. The more you know yourself, the more you know God. When the soul has known herself, as she sees that she can do nothing good by herself, her shadow, her being transforms her in God, and it happens that she does all of her operations in God. It happens that the soul is in God and walks beside him without looking, without investigating, without speaking, in a word, as if she were dead. In fact, knowing the depth of her nothingness, she dares to do nothing by herself, but she blindly follows the trajectory of the operations of God. It seems to me that to a soul who knows herself, it happens as to those people who travel in a steamer. In moving from one point to another, without taking a step of their own, they make long journeys, but everything by virtue of the steamer that transports them. In the same way, the soul, by placing herself in God, just like the people in a steamer, makes sublime flights on the way to perfection, knowing, however, that it is not her, but rather she does it by virtue of that blessed God who carries her within himself. Oh how the Lord favors her, enriches her, and concedes the greatest graces, knowing that she attributes nothing to herself, but everything to him. O soul, you who know yourself how fortunate you are. The question Jesus asks Louisa is one that every soul must eventually answer. Who am I? And who are you? The spiritual life begins when we stop measuring ourselves by worldly standards and begin seeing ourselves in the light of God. Before God's infinite holiness, wisdom, and love, we discover that we possess nothing of our own. Every breath, every talent, every grace, every good act is a gift. Yet this realization is not meant to produce despair. It produces freedom. The human will struggles because it believes it must accomplish everything on its own. It worries, plans, controls, and fears failure. But when a soul truly knows herself, she realizes she was never meant to carry the burden alone. Jesus uses the image of the steamer. Those aboard travel great distances without exhausting themselves because the vessel carries them. In the same way, the divine will carries the soul. Living in the divine will does not mean becoming inactive. Rather, it means allowing God to become the primary actor in our lives. We continue to work, pray, serve, and suffer, but with a new awareness that all good comes from Him. Humility is therefore not self hatred, it is truth. It is standing before God and saying, Without you I can do nothing, but with you all things become possible. Today, Jesus invites us to stop relying on ourselves and to rest more completely in Him. The more we know our nothingness, the more room there is for His fullness. The more we surrender our own will, the more freely the divine will can reign within us. And that is the great secret Louisa discovers. God is ready to do extraordinary things in souls who no longer attribute anything to themselves, but give him all the glory. Let us pray. Jesus, eternal son of my soul, allow me to see myself in the light of your truth. Remove every illusion of self sufficiency and every attachment to my own will. Teach me the blessed humility that recognizes you as the source of every good. I acknowledge that without you I am nothing, but with you I lack nothing. Carry me in your divine will as the steamer carries its passengers. Let me travel the path of holiness not by my own strength, but by your grace. May every thought, word, action, and heartbeat be united to your eternal fiat. Help me to trust you completely, attributing all glory to you and keeping nothing for myself. Jesus, I abandon myself to you, live in me, act in me, and reign in me. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. As you go about your day, remember the image of the steamer. Place yourself in God and allow him to carry you. Trust less in your own strength and more in the power of his divine will operating within you. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew.