Sweetness and promises of Blessed Jesus.
I am indicating today what has been my joy for three days now.
On the night between the 12th and the 13th, as I suffered such agonies from polyneuritis, which disturbed my heart as well, Jesus presented Himself to me with his Most Sacred Heart, uncovered in the middle of his chest and entirely surrounded by quivering flames more luminous than gold. He said to me, “Come and drink” and, advancing near my bed, in such a way that I could rest my head on his chest, He drew me to Himself, pressing my mouth upon the wound in his Heart and squeezing his Heart with his hand so that the Blood would flow out copiously. And, with my mouth pressed against the edges of the divine wound, I drank. I felt like a suckling clinging to a mother’s breast.
As I was about to suck, I thought I would perceive the taste of the Blood, as on the occasion when Jesus had me drink from a chalice filled with his Blood.307 I still remembered that taste, that somewhat thick, glutinous liquid, that smell characteristic of living blood. Yet, from the first sip which went down my throat, I perceived a sweetness, a fragrance, which no honey or sugar or anything else which was sweet and aromatized could possess. Sweet, fragrant, sweeter than a mother’s milk, more inebriating than wine, more fragrant than a balm. I find no words to describe what that Blood was like for me!
And the flames? On approaching, I was a bit afraid of that fire. At a distance I sensed the living warmth of those quivering flames, and the closer Jesus drew me to Himself, the more I felt I was getting near a burning furnace, and I am afraid of fire. I cannot bear even the slightest heat. But when my head was against the Divine Heart and thus enveloped in the singing flames - for, in quivering, they sent forth a kind of very melodious notes, totally unlike the rumbling and hissing of wood in fireplaces or the roar of blazing fires - I felt the tongues of fire caressing my cheeks and hair, working their way into them, as gentle and fresh as an April wind, like a sunbeam on an April morning wet with dew. Yes, it was really like that. And as I savored these soft sensations, I thought - for my ecstasy is wonderful in this respect: it allows me to reflect, analyze, consider what I am experiencing, and remember afterwards; I don’t know if it happens this way with other ecstatics - while savoring in that manner, enveloped in the flames of the Divine Heart, I thought the flames in the midst of which the three young men of whom Daniel speaks strolled singing must have been like that: “He made the inside of the furnace like a place where a dew-laden breeze was blowing.” 308 Yes, just like that! The fragrant wind of the morning in the soft light of the first sun!
And Jesus, after holding me for a long time upon his Heart, against his Heart so that I would drink, separated me from it, holding my head in his hands, uplifted towards Him, bending over me, so that, though I was no longer drinking from his Heart and was no longer enveloped in the living flames, I was drinking in his breath and his words and was enveloped in the fire of his glance. He said to me:
“You see, in this respect every fire, including the fire of purgation, differs from my fire. For this fire of mine involves most perfect charity and does no harm even to do good. And this is the fire I reserve for you. This alone. This is what my love is for you.
A fire which comforts and does not burn, light, harmony, a soft caress. And this is what my Blood is for you: sweetness and strength. And this is what I do for you, to compensate you for men. I squeeze out my Blood for you as a mother does with milk for the child born to her - you, my daughter! That is how I love you!”
Since then these words and this vision have been repeated every day, and Jesus always adds these words now:
“And this is the way we will love one another in the future. This is what I will give you as a reward for your faithful service. This is your future as long as you live on earth. Afterwards there will be perfect union.” This morning even Father Mariano, who had come to bring Holy Communion, realized that I was farther from the earth than the sun is. I was in Jesus, to drink his Blood and rejoice in the fire of his love...!
Some days ago, too, and precisely on March 14, my fiftieth birthday - after receiving the vision in which Jesus, heading for Jerusalem, went singing psalms, just as the pilgrims of Israel do - as I was saying to myself, “How I will miss these songs, afterwards, when the Gospel is finished! What a longing for the perfect song of Jesus - and for his looks when He speaks to the crowds or his friends!” He appeared to me, saying:
“Why do you say this? Can you think I would deprive you of that because you finished the work? I will always come. And for you alone. And it will be even sweeter because it will be entirely for you. My little John, faithful spokesman, I will not take anything which you have merited away from you: to see Me and hear Me. But, on the contrary, I will take you higher up, into the pure spheres of pure contemplation, enveloped in the mystical veils which will form a tent for our love. You shall be only Mary. Now you had to be Marta, too, because you had to work actively to be the spokesman. From now on you shall only contemplate. And everything will be beautiful. Be happy. Very. I love you greatly. And you love Me greatly. Our two loves...! Heaven is already welcoming you! The lovely season is coming, O my hidden turtle-dove. And I will come to you in the midst of the living fragrance of the vines and the orchards, and I will make you forget the world in my love....”309
Oh, it is impossible to state what this is!
307 March 29-30, 1945.
308 Daniel 3:50.
309 These expressions, adorned with biblical images (Song of Songs 2:10-17) and accentuated by underlining in the handwritten text (our italics), become impressive if we recall that Maria Valtorta spent the final years of her earthly existence in a progressive state of gentle apathy and mysterious psychological isolation. Other references to these images are found in the Valtortan texts. For example, see the entry for June 21 in The Notebooks. 1944.