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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, july eighth, nineteen oh six, volume seven. Let us begin in the will and name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, grant us the grace to welcome every movement of your divine will with humble trust. Teach us to love obedience, even when it delays our deepest desires, knowing that your perfect wisdom always prepares a greater union with you. May our hearts become pure, radiant, and ready for all that you wish to accomplish within us. Amen. A reading from the letter to the Hebrews chapter five verses eight to nine. Son, though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us in paragraph five to one. We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and his mysteries, and often to beg him to perfect and realize them in us and in his whole church. For it is the plan of the Son of God to make us and the whole church partake in His mysteries, and to extend them to and continue them in us and in His whole church. This is His plan for fulfilling His mysteries in us. The Lord often prepares our souls for deeper union through faithful obedience more than through extraordinary consolations. As we listen now, let us open our hearts to today's lesson from the Book of Heaven. Louisa writes It continues almost always in the same way. I only feel a little bit more strength. May God be always blessed. Everything is little in the face of his love, even his very privation, even being away from heaven, and only to obey. Now obedience wants me to write something about the light which I still see from time to time. Sometimes I seem to see our Lord inside of me, and another image, all of light coming out of His humanity. More and more His humanity ignites the fire, and the image of the light of Christ, as if it were riddling this fire. And from this riddled fire a light comes out, fully similar to his image of light. He is all pleased and awaits it anxiously to unite it to himself, and then it becomes incorporated once again into his humanity. Other times I find myself outside of myself, and I see myself all fire. I see the light which is about to take off from the fire, and our Lord blowing his breath into that light. The light rises and begins its way toward the mouth of Jesus Christ, and with his breath he rejects it and attracts it. He enlarges it and makes it more shining. And the poor light wriggles about and makes every effort, for it wants to go into his mouth. It seems to me that if I arrived at that, I would breathe my last. Yet I am forced to stay in my interior. Obedience does not want it. In spite of the fact that saying this costs me my life, God. The Lord seems to delight in playing many jokes with this light. It also seems to me that the Lord comes and wants to review everything that He Himself has given me, whether everything is orderly and clean of dust. Then he takes my hand and removes the rings which he gave me when he espoused me to himself. One of them he found intact, and the rest he dusted with his breath, and then he placed them back. Then it is as if he closed me completely. And then he places himself near me and says Now yes, you are beautiful. Come to me, I cannot be without you. Either you come to me or I to you. You are my beloved, my joy, my contentment. While he says this, the light wriggles about and makes every effort, for it wants to go into Jesus. And as it begins its flight, I see that the confessor blocks it with his hands and wants to enclose it inside me, and Jesus remains quiet and lets him do it. Oh God, what pain. Every time this happens, it seems I'm going to die and reach the harbor. But obedience makes me find myself on the way again. If I wanted to say everything about this light I would never end. But it is so painful for me to write about this that I cannot go on. Also, many things I am unable to express. Therefore, I keep silent. Today's passage reveals an important spiritual truth that can easily be overlooked. Throughout the reading, Louisa repeatedly experiences an intense longing to be completely united with Jesus. She sees the mysterious light that seems ready to enter fully into him. Yet each time obedience intervenes. The desire remains unfulfilled. Not because Jesus rejects it, but because he permits obedience to govern the moment. This teaches us that the highest expression of love is not extraordinary mystical experiences. It is surrender. In our own lives, we often desire immediate answers, visible progress or spiritual consolations. We may pray fervently for holiness, healing, or greater intimacy with God. Yet there are times when God appears to delay these gifts. The temptation is to believe that nothing is happening. But in the divine will, waiting is never wasted. Jesus allows Louisa's longing to grow because holy desire enlarges the soul's capacity to receive him. Every act of obedience stretches the heart beyond its natural limits. What appears to be delay is actually divine preparation. Notice also how Jesus lovingly examines the gifts he himself has placed within Louisa. He dusts the rings he once gave her and clothes her anew before calling her beautiful. This reminds us that sanctification is not primarily our work. It is Christ continually purifying his own life within us. When we remain faithful, he cleanses what has become dusty through human weakness and restores the beauty of his grace. For those striving to live in the divine will, this offers an important lesson. Our deal fidelity matters more than extraordinary feelings. Every hidden act of obedience, accepting an interruption, fulfilling a duty, forgiving another, praying when distracted becomes another opportunity for Jesus to breathe his own life into ours. The divine will is not measured by emotional intensity, but by faithful consent. Perhaps today you feel that God is withholding something you deeply desire. Rather than seeing this as rejection, consider that he may be enlarging your soul for a greater gift than you presently imagine. The words let Jesus do apply beautifully here. Allow him to determine the timing, the manner, and even the path by which he brings you into closer union with himself. Trust that every act of loving obedience, however hidden, is drawing you more deeply into the very life of God. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, teach me to love your will more than my own desires. When I long for your presence, give me the grace to accept your timing with peaceful confidence. Purify my heart. Remove whatever has gathered dust, and make every act of my day and offering united with your eternal divine will. May my greatest joy be to please you through humble obedience, until one day I am perfectly united with you forever. Amen. Thank you for joining your faith anew today. May today's reflection remind you that every act of faithful obedience prepares your soul for a deeper communion with Christ. Until tomorrow, stay in his will and let Jesus do.