SISTER ASSUNTA SPEAKS ABOUT REINFORCING THE LINKS THAT CONSTITUTE THE ASSOCIATION
To my dear brothers and sisters of the Association "Luisa la Santa,"
| I invite you to join me in thanksgiving to our Lord for the many graces He has given to our Association, and at the same time, to pray for His Light, strength and humility, so that we may discern, understand and accept voluntarily the calling that God has revealed to us through Luisa: "Soul, help me!" To do what? To carry the Cross! | |
As Christians, these few simple words put us on the path of following Christ:
"If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross every day, and follow me." Lk 9:23
Following Christ means to follow the Light of his Will, and it is in this Light that I would like to speak to you, with an open heart, for the Glory of God, for the extension of His Kingdom in the world, and for the stability of our Association.
With the opening of the Cause for Luisa’s Beatification, it is necessary to face the responsibility of an event that is of greatest proportion and that involves us directly. It is a good moment to reflect on several points regarding our Associative life, which I offer to those who feel the call to follow Luisa:
In front of God, the Holy Church and the Association, we have the obligation of dedicating ourselves with all our strength to follow Luisa, witnessing and living in her spirituality and not falling into the practice of devotion.
Devotion is not an end in itself; it is a practice. It is an exercise limited to a time and a place with danger of losing interest as time goes on. A devotional practice should be a means of beginning a gradual change in one’s interior life to later arrive at a higher state of spiritual development. That higher state of spiritual development completes the devotional life because each state of life, including matrimony, is a vocation that should be completed with the stability of an interior life. For us, that stability is the Divine Will.
If we are lacking in the good will that is necessary for this spiritual growth, we cannot consider ourselves to be disciples of Luisa because a disciple is one who models himself after his teacher. This Associative family is based upon the foundation of a great spirituality: the Divine Will. It is an Association which invites souls with varying degrees of age, spiritual maturity, cultures and personalities, including one’s problems, weaknesses and limitations produced by the human will. We are inspired by the Divine Will to look at our life under It’s Light, and begin a gradual growth towards conversion and perfection:
"You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect." Mt 5:48
The model to imitate is our older sister Luisa Piccarreta, God’s chosen one, chosen precisely for her smallness, to be messenger and bearer of the Gift of the Divine Will. This is a great Gift that God, especially in these disastrous times, wants to give to humanity, to those that are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the culminating point in our sanctifying life is the Divine Will of God as Life, which is a heavenly state where there are no written laws, no profusion of human ideas and theories, no keys, etc.
"My Child, to enter into my Will there are no definite path, nor doors, nor keys, because you can find my Will everywhere..." 2-16-1921
It is a simple path made of love and charity. Love has no limits but, only the desire to please the person who inspires to love. I understand that this requires a serious commitment and effort, but each effort is transformed into a greater force in the road that is taken.
We well know that the seed that does not die does not give fruit:
"Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." Jn 12:24
The furrow should always be deep because if the seed doesn’t fall in deeply and does not die, it will never put forth strong roots and will never have sufficient strength to force the inevitable storm. If our human will does not spiritualize itself, it can never bear the fruits of the Divine Will:
"The human will hinders my Will and paralyzes the life of the soul." Vol 19, 4-31-1926
"All evil is in the will. Adam did not fall through nature, but through his own will." 12-8-1923
"The ties that pass between the Divine Will and human will are inseparable, because they are ties of Paternity, Love and Justice...As the beams cannot be separated from the sun, so the human will cannot be separated from the Divine Will." Vol 19
As you can see in these few lines, it is only a question of the will.
My dear ones, do not compare or confuse this Association, founded upon an elevated spiritual ideal, with a group of souls who are dedicated at a structural, formal and organizational level but forget the life of prayer, formation and learning the spirituality that they should profess and give witness to.
The Writings of Luisa should be for us our daily nourishment, second only to the Word of God. That is why it is so necessary to commit ourselves to few know and understand it. Here are a selected passages regarding the importance of knowledge:
"Knowledge generates esteem and appreciation for my Truths; I speak only when I know that my Words are heard, loved and appreciated..." Vol 35, 9-12-1937
"The human will becomes more illuminated when the light of knowledge is present in the soul..." Vol 20, 10-13-1926
"Knowledge is the bearer of the Gift." Vol 19, 7-1-1921
"Knowledge will give life to the fruits of my Will. And that is why I want to renew what I started in the Redemption, choosing another virgin, remaining hidden with her for more than forty years from the world, as if we were in a new Nazareth." Vol 19, 6-15-1926
"Knowledge prepares the way..." Vol 18, 12-25-1925
"Knowledge of my Will will awaken man and will be like the cure to the termite of original sin which began gnawing at the tree of all human generations; reinforcing the root of the tree, man will be able to live the life which God always wanted for him, instead of the sinful life of ungrateful rejection before his Creator." Vol 19, 3-19-1926
To this gradual accumulation of knowledge we arrive at the reason for our Association. We exist to live in the Divine Will and divulge the knowledge of it. If the food does not have substance, it will not be transformed into nutrition. So it is with us! If we do not live what we intend to give to others, we lack the substance of our spiritual lives, and our jobs and our apostolate will be without fruit.
You cannot give what you do not possess. Dear ones, I wish to share with you my ideal in founding the Association, which was realized in 1981; it was solely to follow Luisa, to live and spread her spirituality. I understand that this means to not only sometimes do the Will of God, but to make God’s Will your own life at the cost of sacrifices, trials and misunderstandings, eliminating all human prejudices.
From the first moment I placed myself and the Association under the secure guidance of the authority of the Church, represented by our then Archbishop Mons. Giuseppe Carata, the grace, light and the support of our Lord and Divine Providence have never failed me; on the contrary, these have allowed the Association and me gradually to become the composite work which you all know today.
This growth that generally includes:
* Official foundation of the Association and the official canonical recognition;
* the consignment of Luisa’s bed and relics which I had until then conserved in my own apartment;
* the acquisition of Luisa’s home, the sacred place where she lived the major part of her life;
* the special grace of the Chapel and the presence of the Blessed Sacrament;
*the extension of the Association to other parts of the world;
* the priestly vocations; and
* the absolute manifestation of the Will of God over these actions with the opening of the Will of God over these actions with the opening of the Process for the Beatification and Canonization of our dear Luisa.
I am sure that this road will extend and widen more than imagined, but it is necessary to thoroughly understand just exactly the value of what we are doing. These gradual stages of development and graces are the fruit of the initial years of intense prayer, immense sacrifices and renunciations, beginning in October of 1981, first by myself and then with a small group of sisters who eventually shared with me the work, the joys and the never-ending sufferings, a burden which is still with me until this very day.
To these first sisters I extend my thanksgiving and gratitude for their humility and faithfulness in following me, together with generosity. I know that I can still count on them today for their stability and spiritual maturity, and this is very important to me. It is not my intention to exclude those who have become part of the family over the years and who I thank with the same love for their generosity and openness, but there will always exist the foundation laid for this spiritual edifice.
Fourteen years have since passed and the times have changed, but not the substance, and this substance has continued to reinforce the foundation laid, protecting it from all possible weaknesses.
A PARTICULAR LINK WHICH WILL NEVER BE BROKEN
"You are the second link tied directly to my Humanity. With you there will begin a chain which will never be broken...From the ring of your link others, from all walks of life, will be tied: consecrated souls, priests, lay persons..." 1-29-1919
When the Lord called me to Corato to establish this Work, He inspired me to connect myself to this link, which this passage speaks about. My constant thought and unending desire has been to help souls of the Association to remain solidly attached once they have become part of the chain. It is important to safeguard the condition of the chain, but I have never had a doubt, even in moments when the chain was under stress, that the chain would ever break because it was so promised by Jesus Himself.
If at times it may have seemed that the chain was broken, it simply means that the link was never really attached at the beginning because our Lord knows how to measure the person, and He knows to whom He can give His Gifts.
"In those who live in our Will we see that continuous chain of Love which will never be broken...." Vol 35, 3-26-1938
For the link to be strongly joined to the next link, that is, united to other souls, there needs to be present the perseverance and the ability to renounce (which includes a mixture of suffering and rejoicing in God) and that interior Peace that only comes from God. All suffering that is offered to God is always recompensed by Him with tranquility of soul and interior happiness.
"For the constant soul everything is Peace." Vol 7, 1-30-1906
"My designs can be completed only in the person who applies perseverance to all that he does. If the soul is inconstant, God’s plans for his creature cannot be realized." Vol 6, 1-29-1904
Luisa is the model of perseverance and sacrifice. Her sixty-four years in bed, an entire life immolated for love, a constant abnegation of her human will, of her human ego, transformed her into an earthly angel. This was the personal opinion of Padre Pio when one of his spiritual sons asked him "Who is Luisa?", and he responded, "She is an angel who lives in Corato."
This angelic purity is obtained when one begins to leave behind the darkness of the human will. If we follow Luisa in pure faith, it will be possible also for us to live in this spirit of sacrifice to all that is human. It will be Luisa herself to lead us like little children to the right road of the Divine Will.
The spirit of sacrifice of the human volition does not weigh upon ourselves or those who live alongside us:
"My yoke is sweet and my burden is light." Mt 11:30
If one stops to reflect upon the quality and quantity of whatever kind of suffering or tries to determine its cause, the soul is rendered unable to relate either to God or to other people. It is always a waste of time, and more crucially it is a great waste of Grace.
"Have your eyes fixed always on me, thinking of me and not of other creatures..." (Autobiography, page 9)
We have need of interior Peace in order to give Peace to others, and Peace comes only from the Will of God. We should accept everything as from His hands because everything He does is for the good of our souls.
"You are not, and should never consider yourself as nothing more than a passing shadow. Realize that you are nothing..." (Autobiography)
This interior modification crushes the soul’s egoism and drives away all personal esteem and the personal attraction that one has for himself, along with the will, suffering this type of fast, begins to break loose and fight. It is at this point that the Divine Will begins to intervene, if the souls opens itself up to It’s action; it is the Divine Will that will eventually put order to man’s interior.
As you can see, it is a decision that goes down even to the roots of the soul, but the only things necessary are a sign of good will, a great, great deal of humility, and to feel your nothingness before God and even your neighbor.
If these elements are not present it will be the house built upon the sand that falls at the first strong wind. Know that the Divine Will is the house built upon the rock, and no storm can beat it down, even if the soul should suffer some spiritual setback.
"Be temperate and always keep watch. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion looking for souls that he can devour." 1Pt 5:8
Satan is very attentive to create confusion whenever we lose our stability of living in the Divine Will.
I would never desire that any of us should ever fall into this disgrace because it would be an evil for the person and for the Association, so I want to reiterate the necessity of remaining in a sincere and unitive participation that will eventually convert the Association into a Family that shares common joys and sorrows, which live in reciprocal charity and which live in a type of "competitive state," seeing who can serve God and neighbor with the most generosity. Our eyes should always, in every moment, be fixed on the Most Holy Will of God.
"The members of the Association, even though they live in their own states of life, in their own family, must feel themselves tied by a full and stable charity, founded upon the common spirituality of the Divine Will and dedicated to the apostolate which is inherent in the heart of the Association." (From the Statutes, art. no. 7)
If the opposite happens, I can only echo the words of our Rev. Archbishop during the Opening Mass for Luisa’s Cause of Beatification: "It is a sign that we are on the wrong road!"
I would never desire that we walk on different roads. This has never been my intention, and it never will be. As Foundress of the Association, I pray that you empty from your life and from the associative life you have with the Association every prejudice, because it is this that creates problems and discord. Eve if each one remains in his place of work and in his own family, it is necessary to find Peace that silences our ego and reorders our mind in Christ and that eliminates those thoughts of self which only bring fatigue to our hearts.
The Association must be in a constant "re-birth" of spirit; I deem this such an untouchable aspect that everything else is secondary, even if important. Nothing should prevail over the essential base that has been laid for the growth of the Association; otherwise the finality of its existence will fall into deviance. In this family there is no room for ourselves, but only an intense interest in God’s Kingdom and the triumph of His Most Holy ruling on earth as it is in heaven.
We must find refuge in the Immaculate Heart of our Most Holy Mother. We have all confidence in Her for all that we are, and as Her little children, we ask that she nourish us with the food of the Most Holy Will of God.
Luisa will guide and sustain us as we walk in the Divine Fiat.
My dear ones, I know it is not good to talk of oneself, but thanks to the Lord and with the Light of His Will, I am conscious that everything comes from Him and everything must be attributed to Him. I have done this only to help you understand the importance of the road we have undertaken, and to prevent an institution such as ours, which enjoys such deep spiritual roots, to be reduced to a structural organization with a passive participation. If there is not an active collaboration, it is not destined to a long life because for the house built on sand the first storm means its demise; while for the house built on rock, it is considered only a purifying wind that introduces the crowning rainbow.
There will be further revisions in the future for the Association, but for now let us allow the Holy Spirit to work with its Light, so that we may know how to be disposed to receive whatever manifestation of God’s Will that may be presented to us.
THE ROLE AND PRESENCE OF THE PRIEST IN THIS ASSOCIATION
"So it will be with the third FIAT. It will have its beginnings in you, where it will formed as a tender shoot. Only the priest will know about it…" Vol 12, 1-24-1921
Looking at Luisa’s Writings, we can see the importance and the high and profound tie to the priestly ministry in the life of the Divine Will as a vital continuation of the one and only Priesthood of Christ; there is also a necessary ecclesial tie in as much as the priest has received a mandate from the Ecclesiastical Authority in the person of the local Ordinary. These important relationships hallmarked all of Luisa’s life and so analogically continue with the life of this Association.
It is my desire in remaining faithful to the Christian life as set forth by Luisa that the primary, responsible guide for formation and diffusion of the spirituality be entrusted to our priests. I remind you that it is this canonical established Association here in Luisa’s diocese that has been indicated by our Archbishop as responsible not only as custodian of Luisa’s home, but also for the diffusion and coordination of the movement as well as the formation and development of all those souls who wish to open their hearts to the Divine Volition.
The permanent and daily assistance of the priest in Luisa’s life has its roots in the priestly capabilities:
"In this moment I understood two things: that it was not the personal sanctity of the priest that called me to return to my senses, but primarily the power given by God to his priest as, His minister, secondly I recognized that God has a special design upon me, which was to weave me into the net of His ministers." Vol 1
"In my mind I thought that if it were the Lord he would have demonstrated the humility of kissing his hand(of the Confessor), but if it were a devil, he wouldn’t. And Jesus kissed his hand. Not the man, but the priestly power, in this manner he kissed it." Vol 2, 9-1-1899
This net that our Lord wanted to "weave" Luisa into was to always become stronger and more fruitful in obedience. It includes imitating the Son’s obedience to His Father, expressed by the minister’s obedience to the Holy Church and the Holy Father, and to the local Ordinary, and accepting in great humility to be a representative chosen by God to minister to souls in such a way that God’s designs are fulfilled in them.
In all of Luisa’s life there was a "direct line" of obedience to the Heavenly Father, which brought about the dying of her human will. This was due to the presence and constant assistance of a confessor, especially the Blessed Annibale Maria Di Francia, who even gave Luisa the obedience not to die!
St. John says that if the branch doesn’t remain attached to the vine it cannot bring forth fruit, and so we if we do not remain united to Him (Jn 5:4). This life is transmitted from the vine to the branch by means of the priestly authority where the divine capabilities have been deposited.
The priest receives this authority, being grafted into the priesthood of Christ, by means of the Holy Spirit. By means of the Church, he is invested with the power to transmit to others divine life, to bring together the dispersing flock and to fight against the enemy who sows division and confusion of ideas so as to block the life of grace.
My dears ones, it is absolutely necessary that we put ourselves on the road to obedience, and let ourselves be guided by the Will of God. And this can be assured to us only by means of a priest. It is only with priestly guidance that we can bring about union with God and with our neighbor, union of the human will with the Divine, and create with Him constant communication.
In fact the primary characteristic of God’s Kingdom is precisely union with God.
But I must warn you. A relationship and a commitment at this level requires the letting go of every human personal interest, even if the intentions are good and holy. This union consists in a progressive disinterest in one’s personal affairs and a growing love for the Kingdom of God, accompanied by the desire that it reaches its fullness where God’s Will in heaven and on earth are as one.
This Association was born in a priestly spirit, and the Lord has, enriched it with priestly vocations. He could not have done otherwise as their assistance is indispensable. As it always was for Luisa in Corato so it must be for the Fiat Voluntas Tua in the world.
The divine life of the Divine Will, which wishes to live in all souls, requires a solid discernment and excludes every personal interpretation. Be it on a personal or group level. It is a very delicate work, as all Work of the Holy Spirit is delicate and silent. It is just that these priests, chosen by God, assume the weight of the coordination and responsibility received by the Ecclesiastical authority to work towards unity in God by fighting the division which the enemy seeks to create.
Dear souls, I approach you in a blessed humility. As Foundress of this Association and with an open heart, I invite you, all of you who have come into the Light of the Divine Will and wish to unite yourselves with us, to follow the priests that have been mandated and recognized by the local bishop. And because our Association is now found in various parts of the world it is even more necessary that groups have qualified leaders who are known and chosen by the priests of the Association.
If we keep our eyes on unity it will not be difficult. If we remain humble before God, and man, the road which brings us into possession of the divine FIAT will always be simple to follow.
It will be quite difficult for those who do not see the need or the place of the priest to be associated with us in Corato, because in that case the person would be blind to the example of Luisa (and Jesus said that Luisa would be the first and the others would be a copy of her), who remained tied to obedience all the years of her existence, even in the smallest circumstances, and on both physical and spiritual levels, always in submission to the priest who assisted her daily.
The Association will grow only in Luisa’s wake with a gradual development depending entirely on the willingness of each member and their personal level of humility. It is humility that touches God’s heart and opens His peace and tranquility to us amidst all the miseries and weaknesses of the human nature.
As I close this letter, I would like to leave you with a particular thought that is constantly near my heart. I am aware of the present danger of discussing the Divine Will and not living it. It is the greatest of temptations: please never let these words pass from your mind. There is only one remedy to the problem of falling into this abyss. The Divine Will is a new way to relate to God, and if we have accepted it as relevant to the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom, then we must accept the fact that it is for all souls and for the sanctification of the entire people of God as the Council so urgently reminded us. I think it’s degrading and a feeble attempt at humanizing a divine principle to want to form inclusive groups and communities. This is currently the greatest damage being manifested in this spirituality. I strongly suggest that Luisa’s Writing be discussed and prayed over in small groups, but I can only see the desire to form permanent full-time communities as counter-productive to the diffusion of the spirituality. They are a useless breeding ground for dissension as the human will, with all its gloriously inherent defects, only creates division. That is the very problem we are striving to combat.
My friends, live your faith and grow with God in your room with your door closed. Stay close to your personal spiritual director, and live in peace with your neighbor. You are called to spiritual maturity. Please let it take root and grow within your soul. The peace of God and the consolation of the Holy Spirit come from the Most Holy Trinity and not from another person. The Divine Will is for the simple Christian, the consecrated soul, the religious brother and sister, the priest, even unto the highest hierarchy of the Church. It is only an indication of desiring to return to the human sanctity if you feel the need to live in community. We do not have this example in the Writings, and it is not within our power to improve or add to Them. Let us follow that which has been given to us.
I wish the best to you all, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, priests, sister, and consecrated souls, and especially to the youth. Whether you be near or far, I pray that you will be a living testimony of the Divine Will, in the example of Luisa, first with your life and then with your good works.
I leave you in the Heart of Mary, our Most Holy Mother, the guiding star that will lead us to the source of the Divine Will: Jesus Christ our King.
With great affection,
Sister Assunta