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Vocations and the Catholic Church

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GRM 177.4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Jesus watches him go away, then turns to the people present and says: «I solemnly tell you that I did not find so much faith in Israel. Oh! It is quite true[1]! “The people that walked in darkness saw a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone”, and also “The Messiah will hoist His flag over the nations and gather them together”. Oh! My Kingdom! They will really flow to you in immense numbers! More numerous than all the camels and dromedaries of Madian and Ephah, than those who bring the gold and incense of Sheba, more numerous than all the flocks of Kedar and the rams of Nebaioth, will be those who come to you and My heart will exult with joy seeing all the peoples of the sea and the wealth of the nations coming to Me. The islands are waiting for Me to adore Me, and the children of foreigners will build the walls of My Church, the gates of which will lie open continually to receive the kings and the wealth of the nations and sanctify them in Me. What Isaiah saw, will be accomplished! I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and will sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, whereas the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.»

«You therefore foretell that the gentiles will be equal to the children of Abraham?»

«Not equal, but greater. You can only regret that it is due to your fault. Not I, but the Prophets say so, and the signs already confirm it.

Detail

Jesus has just healed the Roman centurion's servant, as recounted in the Gospel.

Annotation

Book of Isaiah, 9, 1

Is 9, 1 : The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and on those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light has shone.

Isaiah 11, 10-12

Is 11, 10-12 : And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, lifted up as a standard for the peoples, shall be sought out by the nations, and his dwelling shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day: the Lord will stretch out his hand a second time to redeem the remnant of his people, that which remains in the lands of Assyria and Egypt, Patros, Ethiopia, Elam, Sennaar, Hamath and the isles of the sea. He will raise up a standard for the nations, and gather together the outcasts of Israel; he will gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four ends of the earth.

Isaiah 60, 5-10

Is 60, 5-10 : Then you will see him, and you will be radiant; your heart will leap and expand; for the riches of the sea will come to you, the treasures of the nations will come to you. Multitudes of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those of Sheba will come, they will bring gold and incense, and publish the praises of Yahweh. All the flocks of Cedar will gather to you; the rams of Nabaioth will serve you; they will come up to my altar as a pleasing offering, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

Who are these that fly like clouds, like doves to their dovecote? For the isles hope in me, and the ships of Tarshish will come first; To bring back your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to honor the name of Yahweh your God, and the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. The sons of foreigners will build your walls, and their kings will be your servants; for I struck you in my anger, but in my kindness I had compassion on you.

GRM 178.4 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

God is as exacting as He is infinitely generous in rewarding. If you wish to be a disciple you must embrace your cross and follow Me. Otherwise one remains a simple believer. The way of the servant of God is not strewn with petals of roses. And it is absolute in its demands. No one who has put his hand to the plough to furrow the fields of hearts and spread there the seed of God’s doctrine, can look back to see what he left, what he lost and what he could have had if he had followed another common way. He who does that is not fit for the Kingdom of God. Work upon yourself. Make a man of yourself and then come.

GRM 179.9 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Let your heart be just, one towards the other, as just was he whom you are mourning. Do not give a human sense to what is super-human: death and the election to a mission. The soul of your just father was not upset seeing that this son was not present at the burial of his body, but it rested quietly on the certainty of Elias’ future. Do not let worldly thoughts disturb the grace of the election. If the world was surprised at not seeing him near his father’s coffin, the angels exulted seeing him beside the Messiah. Be just. And may that comfort you mother. You brought him up wisely and he has been called by Wisdom. I bless you all. Peace be with you now and always.»

Detail

Message from Jesus to brothers who are angry with their youngest son for following Jesus instead of burying their father with them.

GRM 180.5 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

I solemnly tell you that many Prophets and many just people were anxious to see what you see and they did not see it, and to hear what you hear and they did not hear it. They pined away with the desire to understand the mystery of the words, but as soon as the light of the prophecy went out, the words remained like burnt out coals, also for the holy man who had received them.

Only God reveals Himself. When His light fades out, as soon as the purpose of illuminating the mystery comes to its end, the inability to understand envelops the regal truth of the word received, like the bandages of a mummy. That is why I said to you this morning: “The day will come when you will find everything I have given you”. Now you cannot remember. But later light will come upon you, not just for a moment, but for an inseparable union of the Eternal Spirit with yours, whereby your teaching concerning what pertains to the Kingdom of God will be infallible. And what applies to you, will also apply to your successors, if they live of God as of one bread only.

Detail

Concerning papal infallibility and the dictation of Jesus, see the annotation below.

Annotation

Many a prophet and many a righteous man has wished to see what you see and not seen it, to hear what you hear and not heard it. In the continuity of the text reported by Matthew.

Mt 13:16-17 : But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it; to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.

Luke gives it in another context (Luke 10:24).

Lk 10:23-24: Then he turned to his disciples and said to them in particular: "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings have wished to see what you see, and have not seen it; to hear what you hear, and have not heard it."

That's why I told you this morning: this is typically the kind of seemingly insignificant detail, but very useful for establishing chronology.

Later, the light will come upon you, not for an instant, but for an indissoluble union of the eternal Spirit with your soul, which will make your teaching on what concerns the Kingdom of God infallible. The same will be true of your successors, if they live by God as their only bread.

Note from maria-valtorta.org:

This condition of pontifical infallibility must have aroused an objection from Father Migliorini. Maria Valtorta notes:

"Having submitted to Jesus P. M(igliorini)'s objection to papal infallibility, contrary to the sentence in p. ... file ... line ... of ..., Jesus replies: "I answer your question like this:

It is true that the Pope's infallibility in the spiritual realm is a definite truth. It exists in each of my vicars, regardless of his form of life and degree of virtue. But it is equally true that you cannot find a dogma defined and proclaimed by popes who are - notoriously or not - deprived of my grace. The soul that is not in a state of grace cannot be in the friendship of the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who thinks such a thing is possible is truly a heretic!

God is just: the way he treats the poor, he treats the rich. the way he treats the layman, he treats the Sovereign-Pontiff. Unfortunately, there are dark areas in the history of my Church. To want to close our eyes so as not to see these dark spots is to live in darkness over the totality of the Church, even over the very many and angelically luminous, divinely luminous, glorious epochs of my Church.

Because we must also be sincere in these things, as I was to my apostles, my disciples and those who followed me. Many crowds, not all of them saints, not all of them lukewarm, not all of them wicked. I recognized each one's merit or demerit, I gave each one what he deserved, without taking into account any particular emotional reasons. Truth is truth, in all things.

This is also true in the study of history. And in the study of the history of my Church. History, to be history and not a fable, must be impartial. The dark ages, moreover, are those foretold in the prophetic allusions to the idol-shepherd and this Sebna, prefect of the Temple (this character will be solemnly repeated in the message to Pius XII of December 23, 1948). That it stings and burns, I admit. But you can't say "Anathema" to a truth.

So lean on this certainty: dogmas are true and infallibility exists because I don't grant dogmas to those who don't deserve it. That's what was included in the sentence that prompted the objection.

You're satisfied. Go in peace. I gave you this clarification immediately because I am the author of these words, and therefore I know and remember them, even if the dictation is not present."

30-6-45, 8 a.m.".

We find the same idea in Jesus' words to the apostle James, son of Alphaeus, in EMV 258.6: "God will grant his light according to the degree you have reached. God will not let the light fail you, unless sin comes and extinguishes grace in you."

This doctrine of infallibility, willed by Christ, was reaffirmed 20 years later in the Apostolic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, § 25: "This infallibility, with which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to be endowed in the definition of doctrine concerning faith or morals, extends as far as the content of divine Revelation, which must be guarded with veneration and faithfully expounded. This infallibility, the Roman Pontiff, Head of the College of Bishops, possesses by virtue of his office..."

Note from the second edition:

If they live from God as their only bread: this condition placed on papal infallibility must have aroused an objection from Father Migliorini, to whom Maria Valtorta passed on this reply from Jesus (dated June 30, 1945). We report the main passages: [...] Jesus replied: "[...] It is true that the infallibility of the pope in spiritual matters is a definite truth. It exists in each of my vicars, regardless of his form of life and degree of virtue. But it is equally true that you cannot find a dogma defined and proclaimed by popes who are - notoriously or not - deprived of my grace. The soul that is not in a state of grace cannot be in the friendship of the Holy Spirit. [...] Rely, then, on this certainty: dogmas are true and infallibility exists because I do not grant dogmas to those who do not deserve them. This is what was included in the sentence that gave rise to the objection [...]. "The same idea can be found in Jesus' words to the apostle James, son of Alphaeus, in 258.6: "God will grant his light according to the degree you have reached. God will not let the light fail you, unless sin comes and extinguishes grace in you. "

GRM 182.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«You said: “Up there, where we are, only the winds speak, and sometimes the wolf speaks and slaughters”. What happens up there, happens in men’s hearts through the work of God, of men and of Satan. You may, therefore, have up there what you would have in any other place.

Do you know the Law well enough and its ten commandments? And you, too, boy? In that case you know enough. If you faithfully practise what God commanded, you will be holy. Do not complain of being far from the world. That will preserve you from much corruption. And God is not far from you, but closer in that solitude, where you can hear His voice in the winds, which He created, in the herbs and in the water, whereas you would not hear it among men. Your flock teaches you a great virtue, or rather, many great virtues. It is meek and obedient. It is satisfied with little and grateful for what it has. It loves and knows those who take care of it and love it. Do likewise saying: “God is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. He watches us. He protects us and grants us not what is the source of vice, but what is necessary to live”. And keep wolves away from your hearts. Wicked men are wolves: they seduce you and incite you to evil actions by Satan’s order and it is Satan himself who induces you to sin so that he may tear you to pieces.

Be watchful. You shepherds know the habits of wolves. They are shrewd, as sheep are simple and innocent. They steal close to you, after watching from above the habits of the herd, they sneak closer through bushes and lie as still as stones to avoid drawing your attention. Do they not look like huge stones which have rolled down on to the meadows? Then, when they are sure that no one is watching, they spring and bite. That is how Satan behaves. He watches you to find out your weak points, he roams about you, he seems harmless and absent, concerned with something else whereas he is watching you, and then he suddenly leaps to induce you to sin, and sometimes he is successful.

But close to you there is a doctor and a compassionate spirit. God and your angel. If you are wounded, if you have been taken ill, do not go away from them, as a dog which has become rabid does. On the contrary, while weeping shout to them: “Help!”. God forgives those who repent and your angel is ready to implore God with you and for you.

Detail

Jesus speaks of the wolf that shepherds sometimes hear.

Annotation

You shepherds know the habits of the wolf. Wolves are not rare in Palestine. There are two breeds: the common wolf (canis lupus), which lives in Galilee and the Basan mountains, and the Egyptian wolf (canis lupaster), much smaller and with spindlier limbs, which inhabits the south(source).

GRM 184.8 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

“Everything that is obtained by deceit, becomes straw”. (...) It is not a tale. It is an eternal truth.What is done dishonestly is never successful. Because falsehood in words, deeds, and religion is always a sign of alliance with Satan, the master of falsehood.

GRM 184.8 · Volume 3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

If you enclose in your hearts a tiny seed of love for your Most Holy God and for your neighbour, and if you accomplish your deeds guided by love, you will not fail in any of the precepts of the Decalogue. You will not lie to God by means of a false religion of practices but not of the spirit. You will not lie to your neighbour, behaving as ungrateful children, as adulterers, as too exacting husbands and wives, as thieves in business, as liars in life, as violent avengers towards your enemies.