Maria Valtorta and her work

43.1 Mary says:

«Before handing in these notebooks, I wish to add My blessing.

Now, only if you wish so, with a little patience, you can have a complete collection of the private life of My Jesus. From the Annunciation to the moment that He leaves Nazareth to start His public life, you have not only the dictations, but also the illustration of the facts that accompanied the family life of Jesus.

The infancy, childhood, adolescence and youth of my Son are only briefly mentioned in the vast picture of His life as described in the Gospels. There He is the Master. Here He is the Man. He is the God Who humiliates Himself for the sake of man.

43.2 And He works miracles also in the humbleness of a common life. He works them in Me, because I feel that My soul reaches perfection by the contact with My Son Who is growing in My womb. He works them in the house of Zacharias by sanctifying the Baptist, by helping the labour of Elizabeth and by giving speech and faith back to Zacharias. He works them in Joseph opening his spirit to the light of such a sublime truth which he could not understand by himself, although he was just.

43.3 And after Me, Joseph is the most blessed by this shower of divine gifts.

Consider how much progress he makes, I mean spiritual progress, from the moment he comes into My house to the moment of the flight into Egypt. At the beginning he was but a just man of his times. Then by successive steps, he becomes the just man of Christian times. He acquires faith in Christ and he relies so securely on that faith that from the sentence he pronounced at the beginning of the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem: ‘What shall we do?’, a sentence which reveals the whole man with his human fears and his human worries, he passes on to hope. In the grotto, before the birth, he says: ‘It will be better tomorrow’. Jesus, Who is approaching already, fortifies him with this hope that is one of the most magnificent gifts of God. And from this hope, when he is sanctified by the contact with Jesus, he moves onto daring. He always wanted to be guided by Me because of the venerable respect he felt for Me. Now he deals with both spiritual and material matters, and as head of the Family, he decides when there is a decision to be taken. Not only, but in the painful hour of our flight, after those months of union with the Divine Son had filled him with holiness, it is he who comforts My affliction and says to Me: ‘Even if we should have nothing else, we shall always have everything, because we shall have Him’.

43.4 My Jesus works His miracles of grace in the shepherds. The Angel goes where the shepherd is, whom a fleeting meeting with Me predisposes to Grace and leads him to Grace that he may be saved by It for eternal life.

He works them wherever He passes, both when in exile and when He came back to His little country in Nazareth. Because wherever He was, holiness spread out like oil on a linen fabric and the perfume of flowers in the air, and whoever was affected, if he was not a demon, became eager for holiness. Wherever this eagerness is, there is the root of eternal life, because he who wants to be good will reach goodness and goodness leads to the Kingdom of God.

43.5 You have now the holy Humanity of My Son, seen through details which reflect different moments, from the beginning to the end. And if Father M. deems it useful, he can collect the various episodes into a unit in an orderly way, without any gap.

We could have given you everything in one lot. But Providence decided that it was better so. For your sake, My dear soul. With every dictation we have given you the medicine for the wounds which were to be inflicted on you. We gave it to you in advance, in order to prepare you. During a hailstorm nothing seems capable of protecting you. But it is not so. Humanity, which is sleeping buried under spiritual waters, is made to surface by the storm, which brings to the surface also the gems of a supernatural doctrine. Those gems had fallen into your hearts and are just waiting for the storm so that they may appear on the surface again and say to you: ‘We are here as well. Do not forget us’.

Further, My dear soul, this procedure was not only the design of Providence, it was also based on kindness. In your present dejection, how could you have watched certain visions and listened to certain dictations? They would have wounded you to the extent of making you unable to carry out your mission of ‘mouthpiece’. So we gave them first, avoiding to break your heart, because we are kind, and we used visions and words suitable to your sufferings, so that your grief would not grow into torture. Because we are not cruel, Mary. And we always act so that you may receive solace from us, not dismay and increased sorrow. All we need is that you trust us. It is enough if you say with Joseph: ‘If Jesus is left with me, I have everything’ and we will come with heavenly gifts to comfort your spirits.

43.6 I do not promise you human gifts or human comfort. I promise you the same consolations as Joseph had: supernatural ones. Because, everybody should know, the gifts of the Wise Men, in the dire necessities of poor refugees, vanished as fast as lightning when we purchased a home and the bare essential household implements necessary for life, and the food which is also essential for life and could be procured only out of that source of income, until such time as we found work.

Jewish communities have always helped one another. But the community gathered in Egypt was formed almost exclusively of persecuted refugees, who therefore were almost as poor as we, who had come to join them. And a little share of that wealth, which we were anxious to keep for our Jesus when adult, and we had spared out of the expenses for settling in Egypt, was most useful for our return and just sufficient to reorganise our house and the workshop in Nazareth upon our return. Because times change, but human greed is always the same and it takes advantage of other people’s necessities to suck its part in the most exorbitant way.

No. The fact that we had Jesus with us did not procure us any material wealth. Many amongst you expect that, when they are hardly united to Jesus. They forget what He said: ‘Set your hearts on things of the spirit’. All the rest is unnecessary. God provides also food. For men as well as for birds. Because He knows that you need food while your flesh is the tabernacle of your soul. But first of all ask for His grace. First of all ask for things for your spirit. The rest will be given to you in addition.

All Joseph had from his union with Jesus, from a human point of view, were worries, fatigue, persecutions, starvation. He had nothing else. But as he aimed only at Jesus, all this was turned into spiritual peace and supernatural joy. I would like to take you to the point where My Spouse was when he said: ‘Even if we should have nothing else, we shall always have everything, because we have Jesus’.

43.7 I know, your heart is broken. I know, your mind is becoming obscured. I know, your life is wasting away. But, Mary!… Do you belong to Jesus? Do you want to belong to Him? Where, how did Jesus die? My dear child, weep, but persevere bravely. Martyrdom does not consist of the form of torture, but in the constancy with which the martyr endures it. Thus death from a weapon is martyrdom and likewise moral grief is martyrdom, if it is suffered for the same purpose. You are suffering for My Son’s sake. Whatever you do for your brothers is still love for Jesus Who wants them to be saved. Thus your suffering is martyrdom. Persevere in it. Do not wish to do anything by yourself. The pressure of pain is too severe and thus it is not possible for you to have sufficient strength to be your own guide and control your human nature preventing it from weeping: all you need do is to let grief torture you without rebelling against it. It is enough for you to say to Jesus: ‘Help me!’ What you cannot do, He will do in you. Remain in Him, always in Him. Do not wish to come out of Him. If you do not want, you will not come out and even if your sorrow is so deep as to prevent you from seeing where you are, you will always be in Jesus.

I bless you. Say with Me: ‘Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit’. Let it always be your cry, until you will repeat it in Heaven. May the grace of the Lord always be with you.»

• Dictations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the EMV
• Gospel of Childhood

43.5 You have now the holy Humanity of My Son, seen through details which reflect different moments, from the beginning to the end. And if Father M. deems it useful, he can collect the various episodes into a unit in an orderly way, without any gap.

We could have given you everything in one lot. But Providence decided that it was better so. For your sake, My dear soul. With every dictation we have given you the medicine for the wounds which were to be inflicted on you. We gave it to you in advance, in order to prepare you. During a hailstorm nothing seems capable of protecting you. But it is not so. Humanity, which is sleeping buried under spiritual waters, is made to surface by the storm, which brings to the surface also the gems of a supernatural doctrine. Those gems had fallen into your hearts and are just waiting for the storm so that they may appear on the surface again and say to you: ‘We are here as well. Do not forget us’.

Further, My dear soul, this procedure was not only the design of Providence, it was also based on kindness. In your present dejection, how could you have watched certain visions and listened to certain dictations? They would have wounded you to the extent of making you unable to carry out your mission of ‘mouthpiece’. So we gave them first, avoiding to break your heart, because we are kind, and we used visions and words suitable to your sufferings, so that your grief would not grow into torture. Because we are not cruel, Mary. And we always act so that you may receive solace from us, not dismay and increased sorrow. All we need is that you trust us. It is enough if you say with Joseph: ‘If Jesus is left with me, I have everything’ and we will come with heavenly gifts to comfort your spirits.

43.6 I do not promise you human gifts or human comfort. I promise you the same consolations as Joseph had: supernatural ones.

• Maria Valtorta's suffering and pain
• Writing the Work

(...) Mary!… Do you belong to Jesus? Do you want to belong to Him? Where, how did Jesus die? My dear child, weep, but persevere bravely. Martyrdom does not consist of the form of torture, but in the constancy with which the martyr endures it. Thus death from a weapon is martyrdom and likewise moral grief is martyrdom, if it is suffered for the same purpose. You are suffering for My Son’s sake. Whatever you do for your brothers is still love for Jesus Who wants them to be saved. Thus your suffering is martyrdom. Persevere in it. Do not wish to do anything by yourself. The pressure of pain is too severe and thus it is not possible for you to have sufficient strength to be your own guide and control your human nature preventing it from weeping: all you need do is to let grief torture you without rebelling against it. It is enough for you to say to Jesus: ‘Help me!’ What you cannot do, He will do in you. Remain in Him, always in Him. Do not wish to come out of Him. If you do not want, you will not come out and even if your sorrow is so deep as to prevent you from seeing where you are, you will always be in Jesus.

• Maria Valtorta's suffering and pain
• Soul-victim
• The fruitfulness of suffering

• James of Alphaeus (apostle)
• Jesus Christ
• Simon d'Alphée
• Summary of EMV
• The Virgin Mary

44.7 Jesus says:

«This is the fourth sorrow of Mary, Mother of God. The first was the presentation in the Temple; the second, the flight into Egypt; the third, the death of Joseph; the fourth, My separation from Her.

As I knew the desire of your spiritual Father, yesterday evening I told you that I will hasten the description of “our” sorrows, so that they may be known. But, as you see, some of My Mother’s had already been illustrated. I explained the flight before the Presentation, because it was necessary to do so on that day. I know. You understand and you will explain the reason to the Father verbally.

44.8 I have planned to alternate your contemplations and My consequent clarifications with true and proper dictations to comfort you and your spirit, granting you the beatitude of seeing, and also because in this way the difference in style between your composition and Mine will be obvious.

Furthermore, with so many books dealing with Me and which after so many revisions, changes and fineries have become unreal, I want to give those who believe in Me a vision brought back to the truth of My mortal days. I am not diminished thereby, on the contrary I am made greater in My humbleness, which becomes substantial nourishment for you, to teach you to be humble and like Me, as I was a man like you and in My human life I bore the perfection of a God. I was to be your Model, and models must always be perfect.

In the contemplations I will not keep a chronological order corresponding to that of the Gospels. I will select the points which I find more useful on that day for you or for other people, following My own line of teaching and goodness.

44.9 The lesson of the contemplation of My separation is addressed especially to those parents and children that God will call upon to renounce one another for the sake of a greater love. It also applies to all those who have to face a painful renouncement.

How many such sorrowful situations you find in your lives! They are thorns on the earth and they pierce your hearts, I know. But for those who accept them with resignation – mind, I am not saying “’for those who wish them and accept them with joy”, which is already perfection; I am saying: “with resignation” – they become eternal roses. But only few people resign themselves to accepting them. Like restive little donkeys, you kick back against the Father’s will, and you jib, and you even try at times to hit good God with spiritual kicks and bites, that is, with rebellion and blasphemy.

44.10 And do not say: “I had but this good thing and God took it away. I had but this affection and God took it away!”. Also Mary, a gentle woman, with perfect love, (because in the Virgin Full of Grace also affections and sensations were perfect), also Mary had but one good thing, and one love on the earth: Her Son. The only thing left to Her. Her parents had died a long time before. Joseph had died some years earlier. Only I was left to love Her and make Her feel She was not alone. Her relatives, because of Me, of Whose divine origin they were not aware, were somewhat hostile to Her, because they considered Her a mother incapable of imposing Herself on Her Son, Who did not behave according to good common sense and turned down marriage proposals which could bring prestige to the family, as well as material help.

Her relatives reasoned according to common sense, to human sense — you call it good sense, but it is only human sense, that is selfishness — and they would have liked My life to comply with their habits. After all, they were always afraid that one day they might get into trouble because of Me, as I had already dared express certain ideas which they considered too idealistic and thought they might irritate the Synagogue. Hebrew history was full of teachings on the fate of Prophets. The Prophet’s mission was not an easy one, and often brought about death for the prophet and trouble for his kinsfolk. And there was always the fear that one day they might have to take care of My Mother.

They were therefore irritated by the fact that She did not oppose Me in anything, on the contrary, She seemed to be in perpetual adoration in front of Her Son. This conflict was to increase in the three years of My public life when it culminated with open reproaches every time they met Me in the midst of crowds and were ashamed of what they considered My mania for vexing the powerful classes. And they reproached Me and My poor Mother!

44.11 Mary was aware of the moods of Her relatives and was able to foresee their future tempers — they were not all like James, Judas and Simon or their mother Mary of Clopas — but although She knew what Her destiny was going to be during the three years of My public life, and was aware of Her destiny and Mine at the end of the three years, She did not fight back, as you do. She cried. And which mother would not have cried because of the separation from a son who loved her as I loved Mine, or because of the prospect of long days devoid of My presence in a solitary house, or because of the dreary outlook of a Son doomed to butt against the malice of guilty people who took vengeance for their guilt by offending the Blameless One to the extent of killing Him?

She cried because She was the Co-Redeemer, and because She was the Mother of mankind who were being born once again to God. And She had to cry for all the mothers who are not able to turn their motherly sorrows into a crown of eternal glory.

How many mothers there are in the world from whose arms death snatches their creatures! How many mothers there are whose sons are torn away from their sides by a supernatural will! As the Mother of all Christians, Mary cried for all Her daughters, and in Her sorrow of a bereft Mother, She cried for all Her sisters. And She cried for all Her sons, who, born of woman, were to become apostles of God or martyrs for God’s sake, because of their loyalty to God or because of man’s cruelty.

44.12 My Blood and My Mother’s tears are the mixture that fortifies those destined to a heroic fate, obliterates their imperfections and the sins they committed because of their weakness and, in addition to martyrdom, in whatever way suffered, it grants them the peace of God and then the glory of Heaven, if they suffered for God.

The missionary fathers find that mixture to be a flame that warms them in the regions covered with perpetual snow, and they find it to be a dew when the sun is scorching. Mary’s tears originate from Her charity, and they gush out from Her heart of a lily. They therefore possess the fire of virginal Charity, the Spouse of Love, and the scented freshness of virginal Purity, like the drops of water which gather in the chalice of a lily on a dewy night.

Our mixture is found by those consecrated in the desert of a well understood monastic life: it is a desert because it only lives in communion with God, whilst all other affections fade away and become pure supernatural charity: towards relatives, friends, superiors and inferiors.

It is found by those consecrated to God in the world, in the world that neither understands nor loves them, a desert also for them, as they live in it as if they were alone, so much are they misunderstood and mocked for My sake.

Our mixture is found by My dear “victims”, because Mary is the first victim for Jesus’ love, and with Her hands of a Mother and a Doctor, She gives Her followers Her tears which refreshen and urge to a greater sacrifice.

Holy tears of My Mother!

44.13 Mary prays. She does not object to praying because God had given Her sorrows. Remember that. She prays together with Jesus: She prays the Father: Ours and yours.

The first “Our Father” was said in the kitchen garden in Nazareth to console Mary’s pain, to offer “our” wills to the Eternal Father, when a period of greater and greater sacrifices was about to begin for us, culminating with the sacrifice of My life and My Mother’s acceptance of the death of Her Son.

And although we had nothing for which the Father should forgive us, just out of humbleness, we, the Faultless Ones, begged the Father’s pardon so that we might proceed worthily in our mission, after being forgiven and absolved of even a sigh. Because we wanted to teach you that the more you are in the grace of God, the more your mission is blessed and fruitful. We also wanted to teach you to respect God and be humble. Before God the Father, although a perfect Man and a perfect Woman, we felt we were nothing and we begged forgiveness. Exactly as we asked for our “daily bread”.

Which was our bread? Oh! Not the bread made by the pure hands of Mary and baked in our little oven, for which I had so often prepared bundles of sticks and brushwood. Also that bread is necessary while man is on the earth. But “our” daily bread was to fulfil, day by day, our part of the mission: we begged God to grant us that everyday, because to fulfil the mission that God gives us is the joy of “our” day, isn’t it, My little John? You also say that a day is lost, as if it did not exist, if the Lord’s bounty gives you a day without your mission of sorrow.

44.14 Mary prays together with Jesus. It is Jesus Who justifies you, My children. It is I Who makes your prayers fruitful and agreeable to the Father. I said[1]: “Anything you ask for from the Father, He will grant in My name”, and the Church enhances her prayers saying: “Through Jesus Christ Our Lord”.

When you pray, be always united to Me. I will pray for you in a loud voice, drowning your human voices with My voice of Man-God. I will take your prayers in My pierced hands and I will raise them to the Father. They will thus become victims of infinite value. My voice, mingled with yours, will rise like a filial kiss to the Father and the purple of My wounds will make your prayers valuable ones. Be in Me if you want to have the Father in you, with you, for you.

44.15 You ended the narration saying: “And for us…” and you intended to say: “for us who are so ungrateful to those Two Who have climbed Calvary for us”. You were quite right in writing those words. Add them every time I show you one of our sorrows. Let them be like the church bell that rings and calls men to meditate and repent.

It is enough now. Rest. May peace be with you.»

• Dictations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the EMV

44.8 I have planned to alternate your contemplations and My consequent clarifications with true and proper dictations to comfort you and your spirit, granting you the beatitude of seeing, and also because in this way the difference in style between your composition and Mine will be obvious.

Furthermore, with so many books dealing with Me and which after so many revisions, changes and fineries have become unreal, I want to give those who believe in Me a vision brought back to the truth of My mortal days. I am not diminished thereby, on the contrary I am made greater in My humbleness, which becomes substantial nourishment for you, to teach you to be humble and like Me, as I was a man like you and in My human life I bore the perfection of a God. I was to be your Model, and models must always be perfect.

In the contemplations I will not keep a chronological order corresponding to that of the Gospels. I will select the points which I find more useful on that day for you or for other people, following My own line of teaching and goodness.

• Defense of the Work
• Jesus Christ - God-Man
• Reasons for the work
• Writing the Work

44.15 You ended the narration saying: “And for us…” and you intended to say: “for us who are so ungrateful to those Two Who have climbed Calvary for us”. You were quite right in writing those words. Add them every time I show you one of our sorrows. Let them be like the church bell that rings and calls men to meditate and repent.

• Writing the Work

• André (apostle)
• James of Zebedee (apostle)
• John of Zebedee (apostle)
• Lucifer - Satan
• Summary of EMV
• The Virgin Mary

• Defense of the Work
• Dictations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the EMV
• Excerpts from the 1985 edition
• Fight against the Work
• Health - Well-being - Comfort
• Modern self-righteousness (quibbling and bickering)
• Writing the Work

• Excerpts from the 1985 edition
• God's spokesman
• Maria Valtorta and Satan
• Maria Valtorta's temptations
• Writing the Work