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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 fifth, 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. Jesus, draw us close to your heart when we feel unworthy. Purify us in your mercy. Teach us to trust your timing, and let every prayer amen. Saint Paul writes in his letter to the Romans chapter eight verse twenty six. In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in Paragraph twenty five sixty three The heart is the dwelling place where I am, where I live. According to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place to which I withdraw. The heart is our hidden center beyond the grasp of our reason and of others. Only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. 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 My state of annihilation still continues. It was such that I did not dare to say a word to my beloved Jesus. But this morning, having compassion for my miserable state, Jesus himself wanted to cheer me, and here is how. As he made himself seen, and I felt all annihilated and ashamed before him, Jesus drew near me, but so close that it seemed that he was in me and I in him, and he told me, My beloved daughter, what is it that makes you so afflicted? Tell me everything, for I will content you and will remedy everything. Since I continue to see myself the way I described the other day, in seeing myself so bad, I did not dare to tell him anything. But Jesus repeated Come, come, tell me what you want. Do not hesitate. Seeing myself almost forced, bursting into flooding tears, I said to him, Holy Jesus, how do you want me not to be afflicted? After so many graces, I shouldn't be so bad anymore. Sometimes also in the good works I try to do, I mix so many defects and imperfections that I myself feel horror. What must they be before you who are so perfect and holy? And then the suffering, so very scarce compared to before, your long delays in coming. Everything tells me in clear notes that my sins, my awful ingratitudes are the cause of it, and that you, indignant with me, deny me even that daily bread which you usually concede to everyone, which is the cross. So you will end up abandoning me completely. Can there be a greater affliction than this? Jesus, all compassion for me, pressed me to his heart and told me Do not fear. This morning we will do things together. In this way I will make up for your things. So first it seemed that Jesus contained a font of water and another of blood within his breast, and in those two fountains he plunged my soul, first in the water and then in the blood. Who can say how purified and embellished my soul became? Then we began to pray together, reciting three glory bees, and he told me that he was doing this to make up for my prayers and adorations to the majesty of God. Oh how beautiful and touching it was to pray together with Jesus. After this, Jesus told me Don't let yourself be afflicted by the lack of suffering. Do you want to anticipate the hour established by me? My operating is not hurried, but everything has its time. We will fulfill everything, but at the appropriate time. Then afterwards, because of a fully providential circumstance, unexpectedly, since the Viaticum had come out of the church for other sick people, I too received communion. Who can say? After all that had passed between Jesus and me, the kisses and the caresses that Jesus gave me, it is impossible to say everything. After communion, I seemed to see the sacred host, and in the host I could see now the mouth of Jesus, now his eyes, now one hand, and then he showed all of himself. He transported me outside of myself, and I found myself now in the vault of the heavens, now on earth in the midst of people, but always together with Jesus. Every once in a while he would repeat Oh how beautiful you are, my beloved, if you knew how much I love you, and you, how much do you love me? On hearing these words spoken to me, I experienced such confusion that I felt I was dying. But in spite of this, I had the courage to say to him Jesus, my beautiful one, yes, I love you very much. And you, if you really love me, tell me also, do you forgive me for all the evil I have done? But concede also suffering to me. And Jesus Yes, I forgive you, and I want to content you by pouring in abundance my bitternesses into you. And so Jesus poured his bitternesses. It seemed to me that he had a font of bitternesses in his heart, received through the offenses of men, and most of it he poured into me. Then Jesus told me Tell me, what else do you want? And I Holy Jesus, I commend to you my confessor. Make him a saint, and grant him also health for his body. But then is it completely your will for this Father to come? And Jesus Yes. And I if it were your will, you would let him be well, and he quiet. Do not want to investigate my judgments too much. At that very moment he showed me the improvement in the health of the body, and the sanctity of the soul of the confessor, and he added, You want to rush things, but I do everything at the right time. Then I commended to him the people that belonged to me, and I prayed for sinners, saying to Jesus, Oh how I wish that my body would split into tiny little pieces, provided that sinners would convert. So I kissed the forehead, the eyes, the face, the mouth of Jesus, doing various adorations and reparations for the offenses that sinners gave him. Oh how content Jesus was, and I too. Then, having Jesus promised to me that he would not leave me anymore, I returned to myself, and so it ended. In this reading, Louisa feels crushed by her own misery. She sees her imperfections so clearly that she hardly dares to speak to Jesus. Yet Jesus does not withdraw from her, he draws nearer. This is one of the great consolations of the spiritual life. When the soul is humble and sorry for its faults, Jesus does not reject it, he presses it to his heart, he cleanses it, he restores confidence. He teaches the soul not to remain trapped in fear, but to surrender everything into his mercy. The words of Jesus are deeply important. This morning we will do things together. This is a beautiful expression of life in the divine will. Louisa cannot make up for her prayers, adorations, and imperfections by herself, but Jesus can, and he invites her to pray with him. In the divine will, the soul does not act alone. Jesus supplies what is lacking. He elevates what is poor. He purifies what is imperfect. He gives divine value to the smallest act when it's united to him. Jesus also teaches Louisa trust in his timing. She wants more suffering. She wants answers. She wants immediate fulfillment. But Jesus says, My operating is not hurried, but everything has its time. This is a lesson for every soul trying to live in God's will. We must not rush God. We must not measure His love by what we feel, by how much consolation we receive, or by how quickly circumstances change. God acts at the appropriate time. Finally, Louisa's heart turns outward. She prays for her confessor, for her loved ones, and for sinners. After Jesus consoles her, she wants to console him. After receiving mercy, she wants mercy for others. This is the fruit of living close to the heart of Jesus. The soul becomes concerned with reparation, conversion, and the salvation of souls. Today, Jesus invites us to stop relying on our own strength. He asks us to bring him our weakness, our fear, and our imperfect prayers. Then with great tenderness, he says to each one of us, let us do everything together. Let us pray. Jesus, when I see my weakness, draw me closer to your heart. Do not let me become discouraged by my imperfections, but teach me to trust your mercy. Purify me in the water and blood that flow from your sacred heart. Pray in me, love in me, repair in me. Make up for all that is lacking in my poor acts. Teach me not to rush your timing, but to rest in the certainty that you do all things well. I place my prayers, my sufferings, my loved ones and all sinners in your divine will. Jesus, let us do everything together. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. Let us bring him everything today, our weakness, our prayers, our work, and our love, and ask him to do all things with us in his divine will. Until tomorrow, stay in his will, and your faith will be made anew.