From Sinai
to Calvary

Reflections about the
last words of Jesus

The Testimony of Catalina

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Copyright © 2004 by the Great Crusade of Love and Mercy, a ministry dedicated to supporting the dissemination of the books of Catalina (Katya Rivas) in multi-languages in coordination with the international Apostolate of the New Evangelization. All rights reserved. This ministry relies on other organizations and individuals to print/photocopy and further disseminate copies of the books of Catalina. If you and/or your organization are interested in doing this, please write to:

in English: ane-usa@mindspring.com

in Spanish: ane@a-n-e.net

Permission is granted to reproduce this booklet in its entirety with no changes or additions and as long as the reproduction and distribution is done solely on a not-for-profit basis.

This booklet is available at no cost by downloading and printing from these Great Crusade of Love and Mercy Web Sites:

in English at: www.greatcrusade.org

and Spanish at: www.grancruzada.org

As translations of the books and booklets become available in other languages, electronic versions can be obtained at no cost from a library at the above Web sites. Also available at these Web sites is information on the addresses of independent, non-profit organizations where printed copies of this booklet and other books of Catalina can be obtained.

In the United States, the books and booklets can be obtained by writing to or visiting the Web site of the following independent, non-profit, religious publishing ministry:

Love and Mercy Publications

P.O. Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443 USA

www.loveandmercy.org

Please Share this Gift !

If Jesus speaks to your heart as you read this book, please share these words by photocopying to disseminate it to people who want to open their hearts to the New Evangelization. Invoke the Holy Spirit so It guides and grants you the gifts that you need for a good conversion.

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Table of Contents

Imprimatur

Presentation

Foreword

Dedication

Introduction

The First Word: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” [Lk 23:34 NAB]

The Second Word: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” [Lk 23:43 RSV]

The Third Word: “Woman, behold, your son… [Son,] Behold, your mother.” [John 19:26-27 NAB]

The Fourth Word: “I thirst.” [John 19:28 NAB]

The Fifth Word: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Mt 27:46 NAB]

The Sixth Word: “It is finished.” [John 19:30 NAB]

The Seventh Word: “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” [LK 23:46 NAB]

The Closing Words of Catalina

Editors’ Note

Scriptures Referenced by Jesus

Books of “The Great Crusade”

Abbreviations used for Scriptural Citations: NAB – New American Bible (1986); RSV – Revised Standard Version (1966); DRB – Duray-Rheims Bible (1609)

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The following books, dictated by Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Catalina (Katya Rivas) in Spanish, have been translated and published in English as of the summer 2004:

· “The Passion” of Jesus Christ

· “Words of Jesus and Mary” including: The Holy Mass; a Holy Hour devotion before the Blessed Sacrament; Divine Providence concerning death and the Sacrament of Mercy and Reconciliation and meditations for The Stations of the Cross

· “The Great Crusade of Love” with many messages dictated to Catalina

· “The Door to Heaven” ” with many more messages dictated to Catalina

· “From Sinai to Calvary”, Jesus explains the profound meaning of His seven last words from the Cross

In addition, the following large books of messsages dictated to Catalina are in the process of being translated as of the summer 2004:

· “The Great Crusade of Mercy”

· “The Great Crusade of Salvation”

All the books as they are published are available at “www.greatcrusade.org” for reading and printing on a personal computer at no cost. For information ordering printed versions of the books, please visit this Web site or write to:

Love and Mercy Publications

P.O. Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443

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The following is the English translation of the Imprimatur of Bishop José Oscar Barahona C. for the original Spanish version of this book:

The Episcopal Curia

2a. Av. Norte, 10

San Vicente, El Salvador, C.A.

IMPRIMATUR

The reading of the book “From Sinai to Calvary” charts a beautiful itinerary for a brand new spiritual growth. I find nothing contrary to Sacred Scripture, or to the doctrine of the Church in its contents.  

I find only concepts and principles, which can help the interior enrichment of the faithful. For this reason I grant my Imprimatur, asking our Creator for His special blessings upon each reader.

San Vicente, El Salvador, February 9, 2004

                                                [Sealed and signed]

                                                Mons. José Oscar Barahona C.

                                                Bishop of San Vicente

                                                El Salvador, Central America

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Presentation

All the sacred and mystic writers, who have ardently desired to reach the heart, mind and soul of their readers by offering them true nourishment that strengthens their spirits, have first sought out the help of God. They have beseeched of Him the necessary light and His Divine inspiration to be able to illuminate with the light of Faith, the intellect and the will of those who, with a humble disposition, wish to receive these salutary messages. These messages have been written under God's inspiration, and they reveal His Most Holy Will for the good and benefit of mankind.  

This present book, written by Catalina, has the characteristics of the texts written by those who, living in intimacy with God, have under no circumstance hesitated to penetrate into the depths of the Divine Being, so as to become the transmitters of the inspirations, which He may grant to them at His pleasure.

The Gospel is the source from which our Faith is born, and it leads us to a profound knowledge of the Person of Jesus Christ; Who, with His life, passion, death and resurrection, has obtained the redemption of humankind.

All the infinite grandeur of the Triune God manifested in the Person of Jesus Christ is recapitulated in the Gospels.  The Gospels are, as we believers know, the source from which all of the infallible teachings of the Church are extracted. From these Sacred Books, which are the Word of God, innumerable writings have been brought forth for the purpose of promoting our Faith, and ensuring that the Christian life is in compliance with the Divine Will. 

God has raised and chosen certain people to be His messengers and witnesses of the one Truth, and He has been pleased to entrust to them some of the riches of the deposit of the Faith.

We as Christians know the Gospel, however, not all of us live it or comprehend it in its full dimension. This is why it is necessary to go over the Gospels in a measured fashion, step by step, in order to better understand them and make of them the rule of our lives. How many times have we read about the Passion of Christ...!   How may of those readings have been like the simple reading of history or a novel that had no impact on our lives!

In this book by Catalina, truly inspired by the Lord, we find a profound meditation on the Passion of Christ, especially about those Seven Words uttered by a dying Jesus on the Cross, in order to call humankind to conversion.

The echo of that Divine clamor spreads itself throughout the world, and will continue resonating through time and space, even if an immense majority of humanity cover their ears so as not to hear it.

Catalina, in fulfilling her sacred duty of being “Christ’s town crier”, wants to carry those sacred words of the Lord to all places, to all environments, to all men and women of the world, in order that they understand that the one necessary thing in life is one’s friendship with God.

Catalina has been called by the voice of Jesus Christ, and under His inspiration, she wants to enable us to live her own experience of God. She wants to introduce us into the Mystery of our Redemption, by taking us to those solemn and sorrowful moments of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Those scenes and their interpretations are described in an experiential fashion, as if they were being pulled out from the depths of Catalina’s being, in order that those who read them may truly feel the presence of Christ, His call to conversion and the strength of His command given to His chosen that they be the mouthpiece of the Redeemer of the world. The world that, sadly, is so secularized as pointed out by the publishers in the Foreword of this book.

“In observing this world, we realize that it needs a means of restraint. It needs, as Pope John Paul II says, a new evangelization to bring forth the splendor of God’s presence with renewed strength. A new evangelization that may redirect the world towards Christ, our Hope and towards His Mercy by inviting everyone to look again at the Cross, so that we may be able to calm the storm that our common enemy has unleashed over the world, and to straighten the ways of man.”

Each phrase of the Seven Words is profound in its contents, which leads me to recommend that the reading of this book be done slowly; thinking that we are beside the Lord, in order to feel the Divine Love of Jesus Christ in our lives, Who, at the supreme moment of His life had His gaze set on us.

It is possible that some may want to rate this book as “just another pious writing”. That is not so. Beside the fact that this text contains no dogmatic error, it leads us into the presence of Christ, to unite us all in faith, love, and hope of a perfect life in God.

Mons. René Fernández A.

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS OF COCHABAMBA

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Foreword

Those, who immerse themselves in the Mystery of the Passion of the Lord, cannot avoid the feelings of sorrow and compassion for the terrible treatment that man afforded their Savior.

As a man, Jesus experienced the worst pains and grief that a human being could bear: outrage, beatings, offenses, wounds throughout His body… [see note at end of Foreword] He was treated as if He had been a murderer, an enemy of humanity.

With expressions of great impact, the Evangelists describe the circumstances surrounding Jesus in those fatal moments. Almost certainly these texts have passed under our eyes on many an occasion, but many times in such a fleeting manner that we have been unable to penetrate into the profound message contained in that historical reality.

This present book recounts and describes some of the most relevant events of our Redemption. During two months, for several hours a day, Jesus invites Catalina, the author of these pages, to live and contemplate His last moments on the Cross, and, at the same time, to meditate on His last words.

Those “last words”, which will never lose their power, take on a special significance in the light of the events lived by the man of today, clouded by materialism, by violence, by loss of direction and blinded by pride to the point of ascribing to self the right to manipulate life, to suffocate it and to make decisions as to the destiny of others…

Undoubtedly, we live in a world marked by the culture of rivalry and death, which promotes hedonism to its most aberrant expressions. At the same time, we are making laws that fall farther and farther away from the Faith and true values. It is as if man tried systematically and obstinately to exclude his Creator from all that he does to the point that, for many in today’s culture, to speak about God is something archaic, a disregard of reason.

Meanwhile, we the believers are aware of the fact that there is a great weakening in the practice of our Faith, in our ability and disposition to pray, in our commitment to God. The absence of reasons to sustain our Faith is leading us to a spiritual laziness, to the loss of zeal for the things of the Lord, to confusion and to the most diverse ways in which Evil (the Evil One) manifests itself.

In observing this world, we realize that it needs a means of restraint. It needs, as Pope John Paul II says, a new evangelization to bring the splendor of the presence of God forth with renewed strength. A new evangelization that may redirect the world towards Christ, our Hope, and towards His Mercy by inviting everyone to look again at the Cross, so that we may be able to calm the storm that our common enemy has unleashed over the world, and to straighten the ways of man.

These pages are a special invitation to you, brother priest, consecrated brother and sister; lay brother and sister, who are involved in the dynamism of human thought, a call for you to rediscover the meaning of working for the interests of Christ.

We have forgotten the value of the Cross, of suffering, of penance. This is why we are not responding, as we should, to the command given to us, which is to go throughout the whole world and preach the Good News of the Gospel.

When Jesus speaks to Catalina about the consecrated, He says to her: “Tell the consecrated souls that the Cross that they carry is not only for the adornment of their chests […] they must gird themselves with it. They must learn how to “make themselves comfortable” on the Cross, instead of fleeing from it. […] They cannot long for [Mount] Tabor without having first passed through Golgotha […] It is on the Cross where charity, humility, poverty in spirit and temperance are learned…”

But instead, with today’s mentality, everything related to the Cross, to suffering, to renouncement, appears obsolete to us. We run away from all that involves penance or mortification. We fail to make sense of it…

And yet, the words of Christ in the Gospels, “If you want to come after Me, take up your cross and follow Me!”, have not lost their validity. If we are truly willing to conform our lives to His, then we will see that there are many worldly vestments that we must take off and free ourselves from them.

Christ continues to suffer in the members of His Mystical Body. He suffers in the neglected elderly, in the poor, in the sick, in the incarcerated, in the hungry, in the orphaned… Is it possible that we can alleviate this pain? To become aware of this is to begin to heal the very sores and wounds of Christ.

A passive attitude is characteristic of those who are being conquered by the enemy. The common enemy does not bother those whom he already has under his power. They are those who outright deny the existence of the enemy, who deny hell, who believe themselves free from temptations because at this point, everything seems normal to them. They have lost their awareness of sin and, thus, they [feel they] do not need to evangelize. They are convinced that their vocation rests, at best, in loving their neighbour as themselves but forgetting the need to cultivate their personal relationship with God through the Cross.

The time has come to open our eyes to this terrible reality that is decimating our Church. The lack of convictions, the absence of a serious commitment, the lack of prayer are symptoms that clearly demonstrate that our enemy is not asleep, but that he is working unceasingly to snatch souls and to pull us away from our duties. This book is a desperate cry of Jesus to the Church and to humanity, so that all of us may acknowledge our need to live a true and profound conversion.

The Editors

Note: Catalina frequently uses “…” in her writings to indicate the need to pause and reflect on the preceding words. When “[…]” is used, it indicates that words, such as in a quote, have been passed over.

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Dedication

To His Holiness, John Paul II

With profound respect, gratitude, affection and admiration… for courageously teaching the people of God to carry their cross with love each day.

To:

His Eminence Rev. Antonio Maria Cardenal Javierre Ortas

Prefect Emeritus of The Congregation for the Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. José Oscar Barahona Castillo

Bishop of San Vicente, El Salvador, CA.

His Excellency Rev, Msgr. René Fernández Apaza

Archbishop Eméritus of Cochabamba

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. Abel Costas Montaño

Bishop Emeritus of Tarija

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. Manuel Revollo Crespo

Bishop Eméritus for the Army

With immense gratitude for their great human quality, their wisdom, their simplicity and their admirable vocation of Shepherd and guide:

Rev. Fr. Dr. Miguel Manzanera y Garcia SJ

Director of ANE- Pro Life, Bolivia Chapter.

Rev. Fr. Lic. Renzo Sessolo Chies SDB

Director General of the Apostolate

of the New Evangelization (ANE)

With special affection and respect for their extraordinary patience to guiding me through this difficult path.

To the memory of:

His Eminence Rev. Augusto Cardenal Vargas Alzamora

Archbishop Primate of Peru

S. E. Mons. Nino Marzoli

Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

To the bishops, priests, and to all those consecrated souls, men and women who at some time had a word of encouragement for this poor sinner.

Asking Our Lord that He may reward you abundantly in Heaven, where I long to arrive, counting upon the intercession of your prayers.

Catalina

February 11, 2004

Feast Day of the Baptism of the Lord

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Introduction

December 8, 2003

The Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception

Our Lord urged me to write this new book, which content is based on all that was revealed to me during almost two and a half months.

For a long time I did not know when or how to start writing this testimony, even though I was certain that it would be on a date of great importance for the history of our Salvation.

And it turned out to be precisely today, when the Church commemorates the day of the Immaculate Conception of that Woman, who with Her “Yes” facilitated the fulfilment of the greatest act of God’s Mercy to mankind: the coming of our Redeemer into the world.

This small book contains new teachings concerning the Words of Love and Wisdom, of Abandonment to the Will of the Father amid the most atrocious pain, Pity and Mercy towards humanity, of Courage and Self-giving to man.

These are the last hours of Jesus on the Cross and, today, they are being recreated in order that you meditate upon them in depth and live united with our Savior the last moments of His life as a man, before returning to the Father and sending us the Holy Spirit.

I pray that this Spirit of God may guide us through these pages, begging His assistance and consecrating to Him my poor work, so that in some way I may be able to help in the salvation of souls.

“When I arrived at Golgotha, I found that two convicts had just been crucified,” the Lord had said to me at the start of my meditation on that First Friday. “They were screaming and I felt pity for them, I Who was in a worst physical condition than they…”

I could see hundreds of people, men who were going to be crucified, walking slowly but in desperation, screaming, blaspheming, their eyes filled with terror and hatred, with a blind desire for vengeance. They were not all together. I realized that these were scenes from different days and hours. But they shared a common denominator: all were condemned to the cross and almost all of them spoke the same words and uttered similar insults and threats to those who became their executioners.

On more than three occasions I saw one or several soldiers approaching one of these convicts and pulling out a knife or sword, cut the man’s tongue off to keep him quiet, and that entire road towards death would become even more horrible and sorrowful.

There appeared before my eyes the scene of Good Friday. This Man condemned to death was different. Beaten… a thousand times more wounded than any of the others, crowned with a helmet made of long thorns that had destroyed His skin, being incrusted into His flesh, covered with blood and dust, feverish, trembling and with very irritated eyes due to the sweat and injuries. But His gaze was full of peace, of mercy, of sadness, and at certain moments one could even perceive happiness, when the certainty returned to Him that this suffering would save humanity from eternal death.

The others throw insults, they curse and squirm. He remains silent, not one complaint escapes from His mouth, only blessings and words of forgiveness. Contrary to what the values of this world would tell us, it could be clearly seen that He is the Great Victor, the Vanquisher of death. His executioners are the poor instrument of the devil, the Devil who along with Judas is the great loser.

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The First Word

When they tore off His clothes, everyone waited in absolute silence for that Man to rebel or to ask for pardon, for mercy from His adversaries. Some expect this, that He should rebel or beg pardon from that sentence. Others expect that, as the Son of God, that He purports to be, He would beg His Father to have fire rain down from Heaven to chastise those who mistreated Him so much. Time seems to have stood still for them; nevertheless, this Man barely moves His lips, silently He prays…

But there are four people who expect something else: John, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleophas and the Virgin Mary. And it seems to me that Jesus also expects something different… He too…

They expect to see those people who were cured by those Hands, which are now being pierced. Where are those who heard His teachings on the Mount of the Beatitudes? Where are those who received pardon from His lips? Where are the men who lived with Him for almost three years? … Where are those whom He had resurrected in body and soul?

What I see hurts me and I know that my eyes are welling up. Then I heard the voice of Jesus Who spoke and told me that He had thought not only of them but also about all of humanity, about all of us of yesterday and today, those who, in spite of having known Him and having received so many benefits from Him, would one day turn their backs on Him. Some would do this because of cowardice, for fear of persecution, others out of fear of being mocked for admitting their Christianity, others because of their comfort, others because they think they deserve every good thing and their selfishness does not allow them but to think of themselves. The majority would do this because of indifference, because of lukewarmness or because of unbelief and lack of faith.

Then He repeated to me the words of the Gospel, “… and have no fear, for there is nothing hidden that will not be known. What I say to you at night, say it at the light of day and what I say to you in your ears, preach it from the roof tops…”

That is why I am here writing, helped by Him, so that you are not among those whom Jesus refers to with such pain.

The soldiers had finished putting Jesus on the Cross. Until a few minutes earlier, you could only hear the blows on the nails first deadened by His virginal Flesh and, later, dull against the wood. He did not reply. He pardoned. He prayed and silence grew in the throats of those either awaiting the first words or the anguished howling of the Crucified.

When they lifted high the Cross, the weeping of the women broke the silence and, then, the horror started anew: the shouting, the insults, the mocking, the spitting. The defiance of God in that precise instant of the confrontation between hatred and Love, arrogance and Humility, the diabolic and the Divine, rebellion and Obedience to the Will of God!

Jesus looked at me and it was as if His light colored eyes lifted me up, awakening me from my self for I felt that I was losing myself in the depth of that pain… He began to talk to me again. His Words echoed in my heart, as if all of a sudden an enormous hole had opened in it. With sadness He said:

“I was subjected to a trial in which they had nothing to accuse Me, since I had done nothing wrong. There was never a lie in My mouth and even the false witnesses, who were called before this infamous trial to talk against Me, lacked any coherence in all their testimonies. My only offense and the cause for My sentence to death was My affirmation of something which I could not deny before anyone - that I was the Son of God.”

He stopped speaking and I felt that I was broken because of that moral and physical torment. How many things passed through my mind in seconds! How many feelings that I perhaps will never be able to explain!

Soon afterwards His voice, with a masculine and calm tone and with faltering Words woke me up from the present time and I listened to what, maybe, none of those who were there were expecting to hear from the lips of this convict sentenced to death.

“Father, forgive them, they know

not what they do.”

Everyone was rendered silent before these Words, many of them were shocked by the impact as they had just realized in Whose presence they were.

What unjust irony! He was sentenced for proclaiming Himself Son of God. Because He dared to call God: “Father”, “Abba”, or beloved Papa, “Daddy”, as many of us would say today. For that reason they have sentenced Him… And even then He asks of His Father that He have Mercy upon His executioners.

He is asking that this grave sin be not taken into account by God, His Father. And with this act, He is leaving the best example of all that He communicated in His years of preaching. In these acts He is giving a living testimony of what He taught us: To Love and pray for one’s enemies, for those who hurt us.

The Words that one-day were heard from His lips on the Mount of the Beatitudes, He was now converting them into action on the mountain called “Golgotha” or “of the Skull”…

How much had Satan enjoyed the Passion of the Son of God! However, if before he had laughed at the pain of Jesus, after these words he now howled with rage and went running into those monsters who were torturing the Son of Man, that Man on Whose account “the bad angel” or “devil” was thrown out of Heaven.

In this way, he wanted to increase the cruelty of the tormenters against Jesus, to the point of challenging Him and tempting Him to come down from the Cross. That would have been the triumph of the devil, that Jesus might accept the challenge and with that, fall into the temptation of disobedience and pride.

The enemy of the souls, writhes in rage because the sentence has been carried out: The Son of the Woman of the Genesis was crushing his head against the ground, as He was gaining for us entrance into Heaven. And not with swords or arms, nor with tanks or war planes, as battles are won on earth to justify our miseries, but rather with one Man, destroyed on that Cross.

That Man Who, as He forgave Peter, the adulterous woman, the Magdalene and so many others… in like manner He humbly asks forgiveness from the Father to teach us that sweetness and love can do more than pride, the humiliation of others, the whip, a self-sufficient posture and arrogance.

To teach us that the person who is noble, wise and holy is recognized by their simplicity and humility and not by their yelling or earthly possessions, and also by the quality of their acceptance of suffering and not by making others suffer.

No, there is no Mercy for Him. But He does ask for Mercy for them, for all of us, men and women, from Adam and Eve until the last man who will be born before the end of the world.

He knows that from this profound pain a Church will be born. That is the great and tasty fruit, the happy consequence of the combination of water and blood that soon would flow from His open Side - fruit of the Love of He Who is leaving two commandments which sum up the ten given by His Father to Moses on another mountain, Mount Sinai.

If you keep these two commandments, a whole river of Mercy will be poured out on you and you will be saved. There is only one condition for obtaining that Mercy: “To Love God Above All Things And to Love Your Neighbor As Yourself”. He has not come to abolish the laws of the prophets but rather to fulfill them. His whole life was nothing else than the fulfillment of the prophecies written in times past about Him, from the time of His conception in the pure womb of a young virgin…

We as human beings have had such difficulty accepting ten rules in exchange for so much Love, for so many blessings, for the gift of life, for the freedom of choice… that God Himself has decided to be incarnated from a human womb to show us that, yes, it is possible to keep those commandments.

But since our misery and selfishness are so great, He has taken one step farther in our favor. He has decided to make things easier for us. He says to us: “Acknowledge that you have one Father alone, Whom you must love above all your comforts, above all your loved ones, above all the power, honor and pleasures that the world may offer you, and treat others as if they were yourself.”

“Love them with the same love with which you love yourself, nothing less. Give men and women the respect and consideration that you demand from others. Be capable of giving all that you ask for yourself and do not do unto others as you would not want them to do unto you…” It is that plain, that simple, so that even the children and the unlearned may understand it.

I know that at this point of your reading, bother and sister, you know that this will not be easy. It is no small enterprise to detach oneself of everything in favor of others. It is heroic! That is what the search for Holiness is all about and all the baptized must strive to be holy.

If you have had the courage to accept it, do not allow anything to obstruct your way. You will face moments in which many a circumstance and too many people (loved ones and not, known and unknown, of your same creed and of other religions, of your own country and of other lands) will try to halt you. This is the moment when the virtue of perseverance is so necessary.

How will you do it…? You have the assurance that Jesus has left you a Church to guide you when you do not know which way to go, to lift you up when you fall, to forgive you in His Name, to welcome you when you seek shelter for your soul, to form you with His Word and to nourish you with His Body and Blood… so that you can become an extension of Him, a transparent manifestation of His living Presence so that you can radiate that clarity and brilliance. This is the stamp of those who are His witnesses, of those who have received the sparkle of His Light and His Love.

Our merits cannot save us because we do not have any before the immensity of the Divine Omnipotence. We are not going to be saved because we were good parents, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters or friends. That is our obligation. We will be saved because Jesus Was, Is and Will Be Love and is waiting for us to accept Him as such. This Love with His infinite merits has won for us the pardon. He has asked this of His Father from the Cross.

Many times the reproach of our conscience is so great for a committed sin or for a whole lifetime of sin, that we cannot believe that God can forgive us, that He already won for us the pardon, nailed on the Cross of Love…

Jesus said that when we ask for forgiveness of our sins while praying the Our Father, let us remember that He was able to ask for forgiveness for us because He never felt bitterness against anyone…

Only a simple and humble soul is able to ask for pardon for the offenses of enemies. That requires much courage and surrender, which is the formula for removing the base instincts that seek the ordinary: vengeance, the downward pulling of others in order to try to stand out, or even in order to keep oneself above water…

Oh! But this is for sure! Absolutely all of us are obligated to forgive the offenses against us in the same measure that we want for God to forgive us.

If we say that “we forgive, but do not forget”, we are asking the Father to do the same with us. If on the contrary, we forgive from the heart those who offend us and, while praying, we ask God to forgive us as we forgive, in that case, we are in a position to implore that God grant us His Mercy since we acted with Mercy.

Later Jesus said: “My Heart tormented by the suffering, had a feeling of compassion for another being who was suffering next to Me. The crucified man at My right, Dismas, called “the Good Thief” [also known as Dimas] kept watching Me with compassion, he who was also suffering.

“With one look, I increased the love in that heart. A sinner, yes, but capable of feeling compassion for another man. That wrongdoer, that bandit who hung from a cross, was another Magdalene, another Matthew, another Zacheous… another sinner who was acknowledging Me, as the Son of God… And that is why I wanted him to accompany Me toward Paradise that same afternoon, to be with Me, when I opened the doors to Heaven to give entrance to the just.

“That was My Mission and that is your mission: To open the doors of Heaven to sinners, to the repentant ones, to the men and women who are able to ask for forgiveness, to lay their hope in the existence of eternal life and place it next to My Cross…

“Dismas, the Good Thief at My right and Gestas, ‘the Bad Thief’ at the left. The one on the left full of hatred; the one on My right, changed in an instant upon hearing Me say those Words: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’.

“That man before My serene Presence, [My] suffering [Presence] yes, but not desperate –the Presence of the bearer of Peace- felt many things break inside of him. There was no longer any place for hatred. There was no place for sin, for violence, for bitterness.

“Only a good heart is capable of acknowledging that which is coming from Heaven. Dismas was acknowledging it to himself. I was asking for forgiveness for those who were crucifying Me. I was pleading for Mercy for a sinner like him.  And his little soul opened up to accept that Mercy.

“That is why, when he hears Gestas, the Bad Thief, mockingly saying to Me that if I were the Son of God to save Myself and save them also. Dismas feels the fear of God.  He knows that their lives had been miserable, so wretched, that they probably deserved a greater suffering than what they were going through.

“That fear, that acknowledgement of the light that was shinning in front of him, makes him reply: ‘Do you not fear God, you who are suffering under the same sentence? And we are suffering justly, we deserve it because of our deeds, but this One has done nothing wrong.’ “

At this point, our Lord permitted me to witness the look that He exchanged with the Good Thief, a look of gratitude, the look of forgiveness, a look of a father who is pleased with the response given by his son.

There is now a new scene before my eyes and I understand that Jesus is allowing me to witness what He was remembering, what had happened not long ago, when He had started to live among His disciples… I see Jesus choosing His followers. One by one, He looks at them deeply, lovingly but firmly, with a gentle authority, that authority which is not self-important, but the fruit of such conviction before which no one can refuse Him. And He invites them to follow Him.

About those days, Jesus said: “I wanted that they be My disciples, My brothers, My friends. It is one who chooses his own friends and I chose Mine… How many times did I have to bring peace among them in order to teach them the value of friendship! Even today I try to teach men the sense of community and agape love in this relationship of friendship with Me and with all others.

“I loved them not only as God but also as a Man. I could converse with them, I could play with them and, in fact, I did so…When we used to go down to the river for a swim, we played and splashed each other with water like little children. We used to throw pebbles, as in a contest, and we celebrated with applause and laughter the more swiftly and the furthest the pebbles skipped.

“We would climb trees, as any young man would. We would race, climbing up the hills to pray or to eat our small snacks. We shared anecdotes and laughter, as all men do when they live in community. But we always ended those gatherings with a prayer of gratitude to the Father for allowing us to have those moments.

“Yet, the days in which we did not even have time to eat, were not few, but I always tried to do their work so that they could appreciate the example. My food was to do the Will of My Father. That was My objective, My repose, My happiness…

“I could instruct them and listen to their concerns, their secrets.  And even though I saw into their deepest thoughts, I felt happy that they wanted to make Me part of their intimacy. On My part, I gave them so much love, patience, instructions, hugs… all that can be given to a friend… But, it was not enough, I had to give My life for them and I did not hesitate to do so.

“That is why I am nailed, agonizing on this Cross, for them, for all of you…”

My God, how much pain and how much Love!

I saw two tears come down from the big eyes of Jesus and I would have given my life to dry them with my lips. Those tears so full of pain and of Love! That is when I understood that no one deserves the consideration of Jesus. His disciples and friends of those days did not deserve them, and neither do we deserve them today.

The Second Word

Jesus was alone at that moment and He found in Dismas all the love that He had wished to find in His Apostles. That man had even dared to defend Him while the others, the ones whom He loved, had cowardly fled except for John, so as not to compromise themselves and fall together with Him.

It seemed that in more than two years, His own had not been able to truly believe in His words. Otherwise they would be there next to Him now.

This man, Dismas, had in a few minutes believed in His Divinity by hearing from His lips words of supplication to the Father. Dismas had discovered the Truth and the Way to Life…

He was seeing Jesus dying in the Peace of those who have nothing to fear, with the Hope of those who know that there is something to hope for. Dismas wanted to believe in that “something” because he was in front of Hope Himself.

Under great exhaustion because of the effort and pain, but with all the emotion of having seen the Light, he says the words that would take him to sanctity: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom…!”

Those words are equivalent to those we say today in the confessional. “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned”.

The previous night, Jesus began suffering His Passion to save sinners such as each one of us and such as Dismas. Meanwhile, the “good thief” did not even suspect that he would leave his prison insulted, spit upon, and rebuffed as “just another ill-fated man”, only to find himself before the Fountain of Merciful Love. He had no idea that by nightfall, he would come into the Palace of the King of Kings holding onto the arm of the Prince of Peace.

And Jesus saw a friend in that criminal because a friend is one who trusts in you, one who gives you his trust without fear. A friend is one who is moved to pity for you in your moments of suffering and does not add salt to your wounds…

A friend is one who wants to remain at your side and who stays with you until the end, without listening to the shouts of the damned ones, of those who accuse, offend, insult and want to see you die in the worst possible way because their hearts are full of cruelty.

That look from Jesus replaced the embrace, which He longed to give Dismas, the same way He embraces today all those who entrust and consecrate their souls to Him. In the midst of His tears and spasms, He smiled and with a voice full of tenderness He promised:

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Once more Jesus is extending His loving arms to the sinner, exalting him, the one who repents and humbles himself, even above the just ones.

It will indeed not be the holiest among those who had died up until that day who would be the first to enter into Heaven… not even the Prophets nor the Martyrs who would cause the “feast in Heaven”. It is a thief, perhaps an assassin, a man repudiated by society… [who will be] the first Saint to be canonized in life and by Jesus Himself: “Saint Dismas”.

It is said that opposite poles attract. Poverty captivates our Lord. Misery attracts Him, the sinner is His great challenge. For that reason He lowered Himself even to take on our human condition so that in union with Him, we may free ourselves of all ties. And so the two ends meet again: on one side, the empty hands of man: on the other, the infinite Love of God. Two ends only united by two sentiments, by two attitudes: humility and Mercy, which together always build the bridge of salvation.

Blessed are you, Dismas, you who deserved the first salvific drop of the Redeemer’s Blood, only by the strength of your faith and His infinite Mercy. Happy are you, my brother, for you did not cause Jesus the disappointment that many cause Him today, those who should recognize His voice and love Him more.

Blessed are you, the Good Thief, for having been able to forget your sufferings and have compassion upon others.

This is how you became deserving of the Grace of having God Himself give you absolution, transforming your sin into resplendent fire of Divine Love. It is because you were brave even as to deliver a teaching to your companion, Gestas. Hence, you were evangelizing from your cross, following the example of Him, Whom you had just met.

Thus, Dismas was giving his companion all that he owned at the hour of his death. He offered him all that he possessed: faith, a new but firm faith; hope in the Mercy of the Lord, to obtain eternal life; and charity, at inviting him to take pity upon the Suffering One.

Now I ask myself and all of my brothers and sisters: And as for us, what are we willing to give for this Love, Who gives Himself in order to save us? Perhaps what we have in excess…?

And we feel “generous” when we give some food or clothing or some other type of material help to those who need it. But… how many times are we aware that it is our obligation to give to our brothers something more than bread or clothing?

I do not have the least doubt that these things are necessary and much more so in times of scarcity, of hunger or of difficulties. But we must remember “man does not live by bread alone…”

And if we are aware that material wealth or having much to eat and drink does not generate true happiness in man, and that there is a permanent dissatisfaction in those who live in lust, in avarice and other concupiscence of the flesh…

And if we learned that fame and honors will not lead us to true happiness because they are ephemeral and transitory glories….

And if we can attest to the fact that neither physical health nor crass laughter nor the hustle and bustle of life, or having worldly friendships exclusively are crucial to living a truly happy life…

Then why are we not taking God to our brothers? Why are we not taking to them His Word, the Love that we have known, the Faith that makes us witnesses? We do not realize the gravity our omission!

God loves the one who gives joyfully. God provides for our necessities. When we give our faith and our love happily with joy, then we are as full as a huge granary from which others can come and gather good grain to take it in turn to the more needy.

During one of the encounters that we had in the last few days, upon arriving to this point, Jesus said to me: “The nucleus of My Message was that the joy, which I had, was the fruit of the Love and the surrender to My Father and to you, mankind. All that I said and did was so that My profound joy would infect the others as well, so that My disciples’ joy would be real, and reach its fullness.

“My daughter”, continued the Lord, “this harsh battle that I am living, My flesh injured and crying out for its rights, darkness seeping all around Me and being far from those for whom I give My life, makes Me feel a deathly anguish. This is because I carry in My Being all the love that I feel for the creatures who await redemption. The anguish and the sorrow increase the pain in My Body that is becoming weaker and weaker from all this Blood that drains out of My skin, as a result of this harshest of trials.”

“Happy are you who accept to share in My pains and in My loving. Happy are those who voluntarily accept this communion with My deepest feelings, this union with My most profound desires of surrender, this living of My same condition as [being] crucified, in the extraordinary lesson that never ends.”

The Third Word

My Lord lifted His head a little, as if wanting to free His eyes of the blood that entered them so He could see once more those two persons whom He had loved so much. Now they remained as His testimony: His Mother and John, the brother, the friend, the son… who, perhaps because he was the youngest and the purest among the Apostles, identified best with Jesus.

In fact John would later write the Gospel of the Love of God and would speak about Mary, the Woman in the book of Genesis: the Mother of the Son of God, the “Full of Grace”, the perfect collaborator, disciple and, at the same time, the teacher of Jesus - Mary, our beloved and sweet Mother.

Jesus said to me at that moment: “The day when I spoke on the mountain about the Beatitudes, My Mother was in front of Me, listening attentively, learning… ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are the pure of heart… Blessed are the humble and simple… Blessed are those who suffer and cry… Blessed are those who are hated and persecuted for My sake…’ And I thought of all those who would be called Blessed or Happy, taking Mary as their model.”

At that moment, She came closer to the Cross, where that Body, flesh of Her flesh, was nailed. Knowing that little time was left, Mary interiorly tells Him, “My Son and My Lord, take Me with You…!”

Jesus looked at Her with unfathomable tenderness and pain. There She was, the Woman in Genesis, the Woman in the Wedding of Cana, the Woman in the Apocalypse, the Woman who had been destined, chosen and formed to be His Mother on earth…

That look of Jesus demands of everyone a profound respect and true compassion for the one who is now living the pains prophesied by Simon in the Temple the day of His Presentation… A sword was piercing Her soul!

After having had the vision of that moment, our Lord told me, “My Mother was always destined to be the Woman whose sufferings would help Me in the redemption of man… You must know that on the day of the Wedding at Cana, when I told Her that My hour had not yet arrived, I was referring precisely to this moment. The hour when I would leave so that She would continue My Work in the Church born from My Side.

”The Father willed that She become the Mother of the “Fruit” of His love. I willed that She become the Mother of My Passion and My Cross: My Church. The Mother of the Church, and the Mother of those who believe in My name and become Children of God.

“Having said ‘Yes’ to the Will of the Father when My Incarnation was announced to Her, and Whose life had been nothing other than a “Yes” to the Divine Will, this Woman will now become the first harvester of the fruit, of the grain of wheat that has died. And for this She will have to be equal to Me in mercy towards the world.

“You see, little nothing, Now as you ponder this moment, you can see and understand with greater ease, why human suffering makes sense when it is endured for love’s sake, desiring to fulfill the Divine Will. And it is that the greatest pain, as intense as it may be, does not diminish the joy in the heart of those who sweeten themselves with the greatest Love.

“True happiness lies in the love of God and, as a consequence, of men, a love that is a generous surrender, capable of even giving one’s own life to please the Father.

“My hour and Her hour have arrived. I return to the Father, but She must stay and implore, as I implored, so that Mine may not be lost. I needed to tell Her, I needed to remind Her that She was the Woman in the book of Genesis. That although our hearts were being torn with pain, I must go and She must stay, so that God’s sentence [upon the serpent] be fulfilled: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shall lie in wait for her heel.” [Gen 3:15 DRV]

“Tell all My children, to prostrate their hearts before this meditation because it is one of the culminating moments in the history of the salvation of men. I will entrust humanity to the one who will be the ‘mediator’ between Myself and man.

“The hour of the Genesis has arrived; the hour to complete the miracle started in Cana. It is the moment in which I must ask Her to adopt John and in him, that She adopt as Her children, all of the children of God, all My brothers and sisters. My way became Her way and She must drink to the last drop of the bitter chalice of suffering. She is surrendering to Her Son to fulfill the Divine Will and She must become the Mother of humanity. Later humanity, represented by My Church, will sing Her praises and Her glory will shine, when the Universe bows down before the Queen of all virtues.

“It is necessary that once again Her Immaculate Heart be open to the Divine Will and Her obedient Love be stronger than Her humble Pain… She must remember that She is the Woman of yesterday, of today and of tomorrow: the Old Testament, the Gospel and the Apocalypse…

“It is necessary that She give birth again:”

“Woman, behold, your son… [Son,]

Behold, your mother.”

Once again, the Holy Virgin has obeyed. John falls into Her arms, crying. And She is exhausted by sadness, but still full of dignity, a Lady as always, majestic in Her simplicity, needing no artifices to enhance Her beauty… Serenely and sweetly, She embraces John.

She knows that the labor pains have once again arrived for Her. She knows that this childbirth is very much more painful than the other one. In the first She was being entrusted with the Son of God, the Holy One, a child as pure as Herself. He would bring Her joy, wisdom, laughter and blessings with each one of His kisses.

In this other childbirth, She will become the Mother of all humanity. Many will not only not be willing to acknowledge Her, but they will also offend Her. Others, in attacking the Church of Her Son, will call Her “devil” when She comes, time and again, to the earth searching for the lost sheep that the Shepherd loves.

In the first childbirth, Her arms cradled a beautiful child, whose fresh, tender body received the joyful kisses of a young Mother. Now Her arms will receive Her Son, dead, tortured and bloodied to save miserable men. Because of their sins, He was rendered unrecognizable, as Isaiah had prophesied it.

Knowing all of this and seeing Her Son in that state, in the throes of death, upon hearing Him, She obeys and consents to adopting, as Her sons, all men, even the evil-doers, the prostitutes, the atheists, the murderers, the thieves, the liars, all those who from now on and throughout the time that life may last on the earth will continue offending, combating and denying God.

She receives all those from that time and from today, and with this comes the childbirth labor. She gives light to the Church of Her Son. As one day the Holy Spirit deposited in Her most pure womb the Word in order to bring salvation to the world now the Son deposits in Her Immaculate Heart all of humanity, so that the sinner who wants to be saved could find refuge in that Sacred Place.

No, it is not easy what the Lord entrusts to Her and She knows it because God filled Her with gifts. More over, He gave Her the Gift of being the “All-Powerful Supplicant”. That gift, which entails permanent supplication, was and, even today, is the secret key to open the Heart of Jesus.

Our Lord told me: “She knew that She would have to plead for each one of you and you should learn from Mary… As a child, I followed Her steps, so that later She would follow Mine. Our union was so intimate, so perfect, that She felt all My sentiments and knew all My thoughts because in My Holy Spirit, of which She was full, all was known to Her. This is how She was in God and God was in Her. That is why Her life was silent and prayerful.

“The man of today, when he encounters life’s difficulties, ponders, doubts or argues, instead of praying. Many times he reflects too much over problems as an escape to the imaginary, while true prayer is always a return to reality.

“When My Mother found Herself in difficult situations, She did not begin to reflect or plan but rather She prayed. That is why She could give of Herself totally, because praying and giving are intimately united.

“Mary’s supplication has the value of the gift that God expects from Her. It is the greatest gift, the most perfect way to give. Prayer is not true, is not pure, [and] it stops being Christian if it is not a way of giving of oneself.”

I contemplate Jesus again and Psalm 22:16-17 comes to mind: “As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue sticks to my palate; and you lay me in the dust of death. They surround me like dogs; a pack of evildoers is around me. They have pierced my hands and feet…”

What mother, facing something so atrocious such as seeing Her Son crucified, would have been able to stand such suffering? I contemplated the Holy Virgin and felt such pity that My love for Her kept growing in intensity, in respect, in admiration. I assumed that Her spirit, in spite of so much pain, would harbor hope in the All-Mighty but that Her humanity was suffering deeply that enormous trial.

I remembered a meditation from the ‘Way of the Cross’ that recites a portion of the Song of Songs: “I searched for the love of my soul. I searched for him and did not find him. I got up and ran through the city streets and the parks, searching for the love of my soul. I searched for him and did not find him… The sentinels who were patrolling the city found me. Have they seen my lover? Hardly had I left them when I found the love of my soul.”

I also remembered the Prophet Jeremiah who said: “… You who walk by on this road, look, observe well if there is pain such as this pain with which the Lord has afflicted me…”

Years earlier while revealing to me what happens during the Celebration of the Eucharist, Jesus had said that no Mother had ever nourished her child with her own flesh and that He had gone to such an extreme for Love, giving us His Body and Blood as nourishment.

Now, while contemplating this Body from which hung strips of skin and flesh, I understood exactly what He had wanted to say to us. My heart felt so guilty that it wanted to stop beating at that moment so as not to suffer what I was suffering. Imagine what the Most Holy Virgin was feeling at that moment!

Today, when we realize how much women have degraded themselves, trampling their chastity, surrendering themselves shamelessly to the obscene look of so many men….

When we see all those young women who boastfully exhibit themselves in nude pictures because they are proud that their bodies, sometimes perfect in beauty, have been selected to show themselves as cheap merchandise or as if it were fresh meat hanging on hooks in the markets…

Does it not occur to us to think, nor do we want to believe that that body is the Temple and Dwelling of the Holy Spirit…?

Our love should admire more the purity of Mary. It should not be this or that [super] model that inspires our daughters because the flesh is like carrion, which putrefies, and even the greatest beauty ages in the end, turning itself into dust.

All of us women should have Mary as our roll model imitating Her purity, Her delicate and authentic movements. We should realize always that it is that femininity and sobriety which give greater Glory to God’s Creation and do not sadden the Holy Spirit.

It is regrettable that many women, when becoming creatures who move by mere instinct and the pure desire of seduction use such exaggerated movements that they become vulgar, and they [the women] end up going against the very aesthetics which they supposedly seek.

We cannot turn ourselves into stumbling stones, for one day we will give an account to God for each one of the men who sinned because of our immodesty. This is because the one who sins by looking, is not as culpable as the one who exposes herself inciting sin.

May God have mercy on us, the women who did not have the interest to see in Mary, the one full of Grace, as a possible model to imitate.

“Oh, you, for whom I have given My life. You now have a Mother to whom to turn for all your needs. I have united all of you with the tightest of bonds by giving you My own Mother.”

The Fourth Word

Jesus’ teaching at this moment consisted of showing me His Face and allowing me to see that He was very pale behind that bath of blood. At that moment, the sky darkened until it seemed as if almost night; it was as if there was an eclipse.

Dark clouds were signaling a storm. Dozens of lightning bolts zigzagged on the horizon and the very loud rumble of thunder was making the earth quake.

Suddenly hundreds of Angels appeared around the whole scene. In a united, perfectly synchronized movement, they all prostrated themselves to adore Jesus, each one with hands together and in silence, while their brilliant faces reflected a profound sorrow. His tongue and lips were very dry and pasty. Once again His voice acquired a tired nuance, as if it were difficult to speak to me. And He said: “Contemplate this scene, My beloved, and learn that My own cannot march through life without a cross.

“Go and tell the world what you are learning and, if they want to silence you, shout even louder. Do this for the sake of the power of the love that unites you to Me, which is as united as these two pieces of wood that form an instrument of salvation for all of humanity.

“Tell the consecrated souls that the cross that they wear, is not only to adorn their chests or identify them superficially with Me. First they must gird themselves with the cross and learn to “make themselves comfortable” on it instead of running away from it. Tell them they cannot long for Tabor, if they have not first passed through Golgotha. It is here on the Cross where they will learn charity, humility, poverty of spirit and temperance in all acts of their lives.

“Assure them that I give proof and testimony that, the devil can be easily defeated from the experience of the cross. Contemplate Me: I am a true Man, in whom the flesh manifests its limitations, and true God, in demonstrating the relentless force of Agape Love.

“Pray for those who do not know of sufferings, for it is certain that they are not among My own…Observe these two condemned ones who flank Me and meditate on the ways that men carry their crosses.

“Some carry it with rage, with bitterness, amidst much grief. He who carries a cross in similar circumstances and with those sentiments, carries for sure a cross, which has no sense because instead of drawing him closer, it pushes him away from Me. Usually that is the cross of those who refuse to understand the meaning of suffering, which takes on supernatural dimensions. That is the cross of the thief at My left, it is the cross which will always be heavy and will never be able to redeem.

“Dismas, on My right, accepts his cross with resignation and even with dignity; he assumes it at first because he has no other recourse. But suddenly, when he recognizes Me and knows that I Am the Son of God, he accepts that cross, acknowledging himself as a sinner, and asking that through it, Mercy remembers him.

“Finally, you have Me here in front of you, embracing My redeeming Cross to teach all of you to carry yours. I invite you to be co-redeemers with Me, making reparation for your own sins and those of all mankind. Know that this way of carrying the cross is reflected in your conduct, when before you are difficulties and pains and through them you draw closer to Me and you profit from them to give testimony before men. When you embrace your cross, you can feel that the only thing you desire is strength, because the thirst for souls consumes you.”

“I thirst.”

“Yes, I had a dry mouth and tongue. I was dehydrated and burning with fever. That is why they took a lance and, with a rag, they put upon My lips bile and vinegar, in order to mock Me even more when My mouth blistered.

“When I said, I thirst, I still had My sight fixed upon My Mother, on John and, a bit further back, on the sinful woman who before such a sight, did not even feel worthy to come close enough to touch Me compassionately. So great was the feeling of guilt that engulfed her, that she limited herself to crying, looking at Me with helplessness. Blessed Magdalene, you, who remained at the foot of My Cross, allowing your tears to mix with the redeeming Blood that kept falling upon the earth!

“By your love and your sorrow, you were redeemed and rewarded with My first apparition before men. For having loved much, your sins were washed away and the Father wanted to reward your conversion and sacrifice, placing you on the Altars next to My Mother and John so that all who thought themselves ‘just and wise’ would bow before she who they were condemning. And, thus, would fulfill Mary’s Magnificat which says that God ‘exalts the humble’ and that He ‘fills the hungry with good things’.”

Then Jesus began to explain to me the reasons and sentiments that inundated Him when He said: “I thirst”. And all this goes very much further than one can imagine. Jesus did not say “water”, which would have been much easier and practical, if in truth He had wanted to drink. In fact, He did not even think of water; because He was saying to us that He had a thirst for us, thirst for souls, a thirst for all of us to understand the infinite value of what was taking place.

Anyone who has ever experienced true thirst… the thirst to ingest liquid, knows what that means… I invite the reader to experience it sometime with the necessary prudence and offering it up to the Lord…

Within the human needs, perhaps thirst is the most pressing, and even more so in situations of extreme fatigue… I think that it was precisely for that reason the Lord had said it… Whoever thirsts cannot wait to quench that thirst, it is a burning anxiety…

Jesus was thirsty to see us united around His teachings. He was thirsty to see a united, not a divided Church, “because in this group there are better singers or the preachers give better sermons, speaking much better and in more modern language than others…”, or “because these ones work with this priest and those with another…”, or “because in this group there is too much false piety, whereas the other identifies more with the poor…”, or “because here they do not give me the space that I deserve and over there they do…”

He was thirsty to see all of those of us who proclaim Christ as Savior, united by love and not separated by petty, egotistical and materialistic interests. He wanted the Beatitudes, which He one day proclaimed with all the strength and sweetness of His Heart as the only path to salvation for all mankind, would become part of the flesh of our hearts. In short, He was thirsty to see us help each other: man to man, community to community, parish to parish, apostolate to apostolate, not competing nor destroying each other as if we were political enemies who go in search of spoils.

He was thirsty to see His Bishops and priests uniting, edifying, pouring out mercy, helping, supporting, counseling, and encouraging us lay sinners.  We many times do not know where to begin to work, because they load us with such heavy burdens.  And many of them cannot even carry these burdens themselves, in spite of having been on the spiritual road a long time and supposedly have been trying to grow in the Faith.

“I wanted to shout to man to come just as he is and to drink of My thirst, from that spring of pain that was born from Love itself. I was thirsty to see that all children had a happy home, not an alcoholic father or mother. I was thirsty to see children mentally healthy, without traumas for having seen the violation of their intimacy and their innocence. I was thirsty to see those little ones, whom I love so much, filled with desires of building a better world, and knowing the evangelical values…” 

Jesus was thirsty for the youths who would give Him their lives, renouncing the world, and for those in the world, who would proclaim the Good News from the place that they may have freely chosen.

Christ was thirsty for us women who, taking other holy women as a model and starting with the domestic Church, build a more just society with moral values, teaching our own children and those of others to have God as the beginning and end of our walk through this world.

Jesus was thirsty for souls, for all the souls for whom He was pouring His Blood to the last drop. From high on the Cross, He saw your sins and mine and He cried out to humanity: “I thirst for this soul…” “This is the soul for whom I am suffering so much. I thirst, I am hungry, I have need of this soul in order to ease this heat, caused by the fever from the wounds, which upon becoming infected have injured My humanity…”

“I thirst for prayer, for peace in families, in communities, in the whole world. I thirst for knowing that everyone will respond to My call one day. I thirst for generous souls who offer themselves as “lightning rods” before the Divine Justice, in order to save other souls…”

“I thirst for you, My daughter, for your help, for your perseverance. But beware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing. If you see that someone who tries to halt your journey is someone who makes deals, be very careful. Let it not be that he may want to exchange for you the cross that I have given you for one that is corrupt, pretending that it is a better choice.

“Silently continue your journey, although with much caution, embracing the wood that weighs upon your shoulders with greater fervor. And follow the traces of My Blood so that they lead you always towards Me… And if one of your tormentors starts to hit your face, do not cover your face against the insult or the blow, nor try to defend yourself… Offer him also your back so that the world can see by your wounds that you are Mine. For I assure you that they who hit you will be the same ones who hit Me. Rejoice in being among those who belong to Jesus!”

That thirst, which Jesus had, was His testament, leaving to us, sinners all, His merits so that by virtue of them we would be saved. Jesus was thirsty even for those atheists and apostates who, twenty centuries later, would say: that the devil and hell do not exist; that the Eucharist is only a symbol, a commemoration; that He, being God, did not feel the pain of His Passion and that is why He did not suffer what any other man would have suffered; that it is an exaggeration when pictures are painted of Christ “suffering too much”; that the historic Christ is different from the Christ idealized by popular devotion; that Jesus cannot speak anymore to men because He has said it all during His journey on earth…

And what if we do not know how to listen to Him, if we have lost the capacity of being amazed by the teachings of the Gospel, of finding solidarity with the suffering Christ, and of learning to love our brethren…?

Jesus was thirsty for seeing Christians who would commit themselves to the work of spreading the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of men. He did not want our comfortable mediocrity of “assistants to Sunday Mass” and our “membership” in some “Apostolate” as if it were an affiliation to a club, to create better social relationships in a passing attempt to mitigate the weight of our consciences.

Christ saw us from His Eternity and felt thirst. He felt a true and pressing need to shake us up, to awake us from our comfortable lethargy of spiritual lukewarmness into which the greater part of us would fall into, the supposedly “good Catholics”.

Those and another thousands more reasons that could fill hundreds of pages, were those that caused Jesus to say, “I thirst.”

The Fifth Word

His face was very pale, the whole left side was deformed with the eye almost totally closed because of the swelling of the cheek and the eyelid… So brutally had been the beating that He received, that it had opened His cheekbone. It looked like an open mouth that allowed the flesh of the Son of God to be seen! …

Jesus did not open His lips, but I could hear Him. I heard His words directed to the Father.  They were a combination of love, gratitude, resignation, powerlessness, pain and meekness… I felt that my heart was being crushed with sadness.

“My Father, look at Me…as a sun eclipsed by its own choice! You have allowed Me to drink the bitter chalice of the icy night of the spirit and I give You thanks for this.”

Then He addressed me, saying: “In this profound pain which causes My sight to grow darker to the point that I can no longer see clearly those beings which I love and who remain at the foot of My agony, I know that Love has conquered, that it will conquer forever.

“As you can see, it seems that it had not been enough to have passed through this world doing good to everyone. I went all the way to the extreme of love. I gave life to that which I had preached previously: ‘No one has greater love than the one who gives his own life for his friends.’ And I also gave Mine for My enemies, for those who were crucifying Me…

“It is precisely because of that boundless love which, in the midst of My unfathomable suffering, I did not loose confidence in My Father. But rather, I was being overcome by immense joy in knowing that I was fulfilling His Will and, thus, demonstrating My Love for Him and for all mankind.”

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Lord gave me the immense grace of also being able to contemplate that moment. It happened in this way:

I was in prayer with my eyes closed in front of the small altar in my workroom where I have a crucifix, an image of the Holy Virgin and a small box with the relics of some saints. I opened my eyes and in front of me was something else. That place was no longer there but, instead, I was looking at a dark sky, lightning with strong claps of thunder and three crucified men.

The scene came closer until I had it at what seemed a distance of about two meters from where I was, and it {the scene) only consisted of the agonizing Jesus in front of me. It was so near that I stretched out my hand. But when I realized that I could not reach Him, I understood that it was another vision.

Jesus panted and I could see that He was making efforts to breathe in air. This I know well, for having lived it so many times… His eyes were popped wide open, the mouth so dry that each time it became more difficult for Him to modulate words.

He began to sob and the bloody tears were running down His wounded cheeks when He said looking towards Heaven, “Eli, Eli… lama sabactani…” “My God, My God… why have You forsaken Me?”

I could not bear it and broke down sobbing pouring out such tears as I had very seldom done in my life. Then I heard internally His voice:

“Dear daughter, there are many pages written about these words which would seem to give the idea that at that moment I only felt, as a man, that I was being forsaken by My Father. It goes much farther than that. Remember that from the Cross, I was looking at all the times to come and at all men and women who would suffer: some because they fabricated their own crosses and others because the crosses are imposed upon them by their brothers, who cannot carry them …

“In that cry, I complained about the abandonment all humanity’s Via Crucis [Way of the Cross]. I felt in My own wounds the infinite wounds of all the bodies that would be tortured by hunger and misery. Millions of voices united to Mine saying: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken me? I am dying of hunger, when there are people who get sick of gluttony… My life is a continuous and forced fast while there are people who do not know what it means to fast and they call themselves Christians…!’

“I felt the wounds that are the consequence of the injustices and cruelty suffered by the crucified of all times in exile, in the refuge camps. I felt the pain of the wounds of those incarcerated, rejected and scorned by the same society who took them to that place moved by their selfishness… And those voices from the silence united themselves to Mine, saying: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken me? You did not create borders. You did not make jails. You did not want a society of a few rich and another with multitudes of marginalized…’

“In My arms and legs I felt the pain felt by the handicapped. In My head the thorns taught Me what the mentally deficient or ill would suffer, who are many times humiliated by the rejection of even their own families. The cry of these people united itself to Mine saying: ‘Why Father, do You allow them to laugh at me, to marginalize me, to shut me in, if it is not my fault that I am in this state…? They do not think that one day they could be like me and feel the same?’

“I felt in My heart the pain that an elderly person feels when he is forgotten, by his own as well as by the others as when he is abandoned in a ‘home’ at the mercy of the oversight and hands of strangers. Abandoned because now his hands are not capable of working in order to feed his family or because the new and elegant friends of his children and grandchildren could not understand the limitations of an elderly person.

“They are already tired of prohibiting him to talk, so he will not say ‘inappropriate’ things, because his memory no longer works… In some cases, people ‘ mercifully’ have compassion on them and murder them ‘so that they can stop suffering’. And then their voices unite themselves to Mine saying: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken me? Why do You allow the ones I once taught to walk, to throw me onto the street? Why do You allow the others who walk by me, to feel revulsion for my poverty, my dirty clothing? They humiliate me, boasting of their youth and their wealth. Why does this son of mine want to have them apply euthanasia to shorten my days and increase his condemnation in Hell?

“I felt in My skin the burning sensation of all those who would be marginalized because they belonged to a certain race and that for the same reason, would be forced to place themselves in the same conditions as a dog, which access is limited to only certain sections of the home. Their voices, full of helplessness and pain, would cry out next to Mine: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken me? Why do You allow another man, maybe more sinful than I, maybe more unfaithful, maybe less intelligent, with instincts more similar to the beasts than to ours, to lower himself from his human condition and to lower me from my condition as a human being because I do not have skin like his?’

“I felt the anguish of all those men and women, who at the moment of their death, would find that they had been wrong. That their lives had been a continual loss in sin, in the pleasures and in the denial of God and that their condemnation is imminent… For an eternity of eternities, in exchange for having lived their own way for ‘x’ number of years! Oh the pain!…

“But I also felt the pain of those Christians who, at the moment of their death, would find that they had been right: that they had believed, had fed themselves and had lived supposedly ‘as good Christians”, that is to say, fulfilling many things but omitting many others. Omissions such as taking their knowledge to others, thinking selfishly of saving themselves, ignoring what happens to the neighbor who lives without knowing anything about God. And justice is for both groups: for those who did not want to know God and for those who did nothing to share their faith, for not being bearers of hope for the rest!

“I felt in each centimeter of My Body the pain of each child murdered inside the body of his own mother. And their innocence joined with My shout of human powerlessness: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken me? Why do You permit this woman, who could cradle me in her arms, warming my small body, to condemn me to not see the light of day and to condemn herself to not see the Light of Heaven?’

“Thus, contemplating My wounds and the wounds of humanity, I thought of Judas and of all the traitors and, also, of all who would be betrayed by their friends, sold for thirty coins from hell: for a better economic situation; for an exchange for more power, in order to allow their arrogance to surface; for envy that can only be quenched by discrediting the person envied; for the ambition of possessing what cannot be possessed…

“Then I felt the cry of those who would feel the kiss of the betrayer on their cheek, like a smelly drool, just like I felt the kiss of the one who one day had been My beloved brother. At that moment I cried out with all of My strength: ‘My God, My God… why have You forsaken Me?’

“The most admirable attribute in a human being with respect to another human being, is the capability of feeling that one is “a close enough friend” as to receive from the other an advice or a warning with love, knowing that one would also give it with love to the friend to the point of being able to straighten him out by telling him, ‘not that way brother, because you are going to make a mistake’ and to the point of being able to understand each other with one look, with a smile and being able to support each other through a handshake that means, ‘here I am, you can always count on me’.

“A friend is he who inconveniences himself, who deprives himself of something or of many things to offer them to you. A friend is one who will give up his time of rest to work for you. A friend is he who can in a moment give up the comfort of his house so as to make you feel comfortable, loved and appreciated. A friend is that one who leaves his land to help you save yours. A friend is he who confides his sorrows and joys, who is always transparent with you and who always takes you towards growth in faith and in the love of God. A friend is he who builds, who unites, who gathers… Not one who tears apart, who destroys, knocks down, so he can sit on top of the rubble. A friend is he, who gives his life to save you… as I did.

“And because I am friend of mankind, each one of the wounds that Mine receive, stirs up My compassion and it forces Me to search for the proper medicine. I mean to say that I have a very fresh and vivid memory of each injustice, of each slight, of each ‘false kiss’, of each humiliation…

“No, I do not forget those who you, mankind, forget! I listen to those whom you do not hear because the noise of your souls prevents you from having the peace to listen to others and to figure out what their actions mean, regardless of how irrational they might seem to you!

“I sweetly place in My Sacred Heart, those whom you leave mercilessly abandoned on the road, those whom you slander, those whom you destroy trying to attain what they posses, the Beatitudes!”

The Sixth Word

On another day Jesus explained to me that not all of us ascend towards holiness through the same path, that while some persons have to work on their humility, others have to work on their joy.  Still others must work on their lack of hope, others on their tempers, others on their vanity, and yet others on their strength in order to break the chain that ties them to some vice... in other words, each on his own issues. 

The Lord was saying that every time that we feel entangled on this path, we should do an analysis that would help us see clearly the place where we have laid our desires. What things worry us the most, or take away our peace, our joy. In what things, and at which moments, do we encounter the greatest temptations…

He spoke to me about the temptations experienced by some people who were close to Him. He talked about the temptation of distrust, suffered by the apostles when they experienced a moment of danger while in the boat. They thought that they would sink and drown in the waters and not be able to save themselves because “He” Who could save them, was asleep.

He spoke to me about Peter's temptation of lack of faith when Peter started to sink into the waters at the moment when he doubted being his ability to walk on them to come to his Master.

He spoke to me about the temptations of James and John, when they were discussing, anxious to know, who would sit at His right hand side, thus allowing the temptations of envy, vanity and the desire for power to make prey of them.

He addressed the temptations suffered by the Scribes and Pharisees: envy, fear and hatred against Him. Feelings that led them to place stones in His way, so that He would stumble and fall, in order that all of them could come down on Him and beat Him. He told me how they would ask questions trying to catch Him in “His error” and to condemn Him for it.

He spoke to me about His own temptations during the forty days He fasted in the wilderness. And how with His prayer and rejection of the devil He was able to overcome them.

I could write several pages concerning all this that He kept telling me about but, in all cases, the central message was the same: That we can overcome temptation only through prayer and by truly seeking to do the Will of The Father.

“It is finished.”

Jesus spoke like this when He uttered His Sixth Word.

“When I said that it was all finished, I summarized with these words all that My thoughts were saying to the Father. The fulfillment of Your Will has been consummated, My Father… I came to the world by means of the womb of a Virgin, in the tiny body of a baby. I became a man like all other mortals in order to save them…

“All the prophesies were fulfilled in Me: I was born in Bethlehem; I lived like the poor; I had a man baptize Me; I preached in Your Name. You sent Me and I made You known as loving and kind as You are. I suffered persecution. I came as the physician of body and soul, and I healed many who were sick. I was betrayed by a very close friend, and sold for thirty worthless coins… I came to prove to them that those who believe in You and in Me are not dead, and I raised many who were dead.

“ ‘Telestai!’ It is finished! I came to save sinners, and here is one, tied to My Cross. She is at My Mother’s side, and weeps out of love for You [Father] and out of sorrow for Me. I bring to You a thief, so that he opens the doors of Paradise for all the sinners who want to be saved… It is finished…!

“All the prophecies have been fulfilled in Me. They add up to more than twenty for the period of My passion and My agony, alone… I leave My Mother as the Mother of all humanity, that they may not feel as orphans, and I am leaving the perfect disciple that You gave Me for a Mother, in the hands of those who will love Me throughout the centuries.

“ ‘Telestai, My Father…! (It means: ‘All done!’ ‘All has been done well!’ ‘I have fulfilled Your Will and to the best of My ability!’) Mankind has seen the Light. And although they have not recognized it, it will illuminate them throughout all of earth’s history. I have fulfilled My duty to You, Father; by vanquishing the serpent, I have opened the Gates to Heaven.

“Remember Job, My daughter, when he says:

My heart leaps [in fear]

It leaps outside its place

Hearken; hearken to the rumble of his voice

The roar that from his mouth comes

Under all the heavens he hurls it

And its luminosity reaches

All the ends of the earth

“It has been perfectly accomplished. Never again will man have to fear that God of justice, insistently portrayed as such due to the culture of the people, by persons who lived during the times of the warnings…The Strong Angel has fulfilled His duty, Father, and even though I must now return to You, the Church will be born from My Open Side, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her.

“It will be a Holy Church, made of holy people and sinners. But, amid the filth, the consequence of the human misery, many men and women will keep their vows and promises, and will shine like the stars… Also, this Church will not lack for sorrow, treachery, sin… You know that all is contaminated, and all will have to go through a Gethsemane, and a Golgotha. But the faithful remnant, that portion of the flock of this Church, which from now on I am cleansing with each drop of My Blood, will arrive to Mount Tabor to be transfigured.

“It is finished, Father! All had to be fulfilled, and all must be fulfilled, including the hours of darkness that will frighten man so much; because it is necessary that the man of iniquity make his entrance into the world and wage battle against Ours: Yours and Mine. But Mary remains, My Father, Your perfect collaborator, and She will keep Your Word. I have suffered everything in My Body. I have endured everything freely. Not as an imposition on Your part, but because I wanted to do it, for love of You and love of man.

“It is finished, and now, My Father, I must return to You. But remember that I have entrusted those, who are Mine to You, so that not a single one of them be lost…

“I know that they will be lost, those who will leave after having sworn an oath of fidelity to Me, going after the pleasures of the world. They will be lost, those who, having had their hands consecrated to bring Me and give Me as food to men and women, will stain those hands by hurting the innocent. Then they will certainly have a rope with a millstone tied around their necks, to throw themselves into the depths of a river of lava.

“They will be lost, those who, being unable to carry heavy burdens, will unload them onto the backs of the weak, in order to crush them. They will be lost, those who, blinded by their pride, will no longer see Me in the humble and simple people. They will be lost, those who, having received more, will be accountable for more.

“But those who are capable of weeping upon meditating on the pain that now overwhelms Me, those who in seeing an older woman dressed in rags, give her a kiss on the cheek as a sign of brotherhood and equality, those who being able to sleep on a bed, sleep on the floor, so as to mortify their flesh as a sign of reparation for Our love…, those who recognize My gaze in the eyes of the marginalized, My pure smile in that of the children, My voice amid the racket and confusion of the world, My tears in the repentant sinners…

“Those who reflect My hands in the granting of pardons, those who will follow in My footsteps as missionaries, opening furrows of hope to sow My seed, not trusting in their capability but only in My Providence…, those who make themselves like little children, to the point that their innocence and purity lead them to believe and fully trust in My Almighty Presence…

“Those whose lips are always willing to give a smile, a pardon, a blessing, a gentle reproach or brotherly correction… those who will not hesitate to proclaim My message of salvation with strength, without being afraid to be silenced, and are capable of enduring the blows, the wickedness, the slander, the insults without defending themselves or harboring vengeful desires…, those will be saved because they are among those whom I call Mine, and who were entrusted to You, so that being in the world they may not be of the world… so that they may not be lost…”

The Seventh Word

After having reflected on the previous word uttered by Jesus on the Cross, I understand that, the Cross will follow all of us Christians, as if it were a part of our own existence. But I also give warning that not all of us are capable of awakening, of unburying the Christ that remains asleep within us.

Many of us live complaining about our small or large crosses, thinking that our lot in life is the saddest, the most painful, which no one else but ourselves would be capable of enduring… And the worst thing is that we believe that God has forsaken us, that He does not hear us, or that He is angry with us.

But it is not so. Jesus says that the knowledge that He has of us, particularly of the most sorrowful, of those who suffer the most, the weakest, makes Him love with preference the poorest and those who need Him the most.

If we would only be aware of the fact that the people most in need are not [necessarily] those in poverty, but in general terms, those who have everything but God; then, our paths would lead us to those persons who, being the wealthiest, are actually in many cases the poorest.

It is not so difficult to reach the indigent, and to persuade them to place their trust in God, given that these persons usually have a very open heart toward our Faith. And a few words, or a simple gesture of love, is enough most of the time, to show them the path towards the Father. What is difficult is to change the mind of those persons who have everything, or who have made of sin the reason for their lives and live convinced that they have no need for anything else.

This work is the hardest for the evangelizers. When they are faced with pride, it is like dealing directly with the prince of this world, hiding cunningly within some poor man who is wealthy, but in need of the love of God.

How beneficial it would be for us to meditate from time to time, on the Passion of Jesus, on the sorrow of the Most Holy Virgin, who, by His side, has suffered the martyrdom of martyrdoms, watching Her Lord and Son nailed to the Cross on Calvary for the sake of mankind.

And yet, She has been able to leave us the greatest of testimonies, because with Her endless love and absolute obedience to the Father, She endured with humility the wrenching pain of seeing Her Son die amid horrible sufferings. Moreover, She has taken charge of humanity, and become our Mother. In other words, She has willingly chosen to project onto us Her love for Her Son. She was to suffer like a sinner next to Her Son, being innocent like Him and all this, so that the Will of the Father may be fulfilled in Her as well.

Jesus said that it is because of this tragic moment that the two Hearts are represented united to each other. (The two Hearts united is the symbol of our apostolic spirituality, as is of other communities and apostolic organizations.) This is because they were united with one another, through pain: At Golgotha they were one sole wounded Heart; two hearts that merged together in order to transform themselves into one; one sole Heart, feeling pain for each other’s suffering, one sole Heart feeling Love, for obeying the Father, and for saving mankind.

Now I see myself compelled to explain to the reader something, which at first might seem to be of little importance, but which, nonetheless, contains a crucial teaching from the Lord, for all of us.

Many of you, my dear brothers and sisters, must have wondered why [the tablets of the Ten Commandments given to] Moses appears on the front cover of this book. In order to approach the subject, I first must make it clear to you that it is never I, who gives the title to any of these books. And in order to choose the front covers, we engage in much prayer, asking Our Lord to assist us in the choice.

Jesus told me one Friday night:

“The darkness for the world is approaching, but he who lives embracing the Cross has nothing to fear. Therefore, man must not be contented with only looking at an image of Mine, or going to a Good Friday procession. But he must try to have My same sentiments: to forgive as I forgave and to ask pardon as I did [for them]; to remain silent in the face of infamous remarks, as I did before Pilate, and, yet, to feel such zeal and bravery as to become capable of: chasing the money changers out of the Temple of God with a whip; to live to do the Will of the Father as I did; to love so much as to even give your life for others; and to allow your body to be crushed, and with joy, to give oneself as food, so others can feed on that bread.”

Right after my prayer while meditating, I was thinking of Moses. I have always been impressed with his mission, his life… Suddenly that space which opens many times in order to allow me to watch a far away scene, opened itself before my eyes. Before me was the scene of the Transfiguration, and watching it I wondered: why Moses and Elias? I thought that perhaps Elias [was there] for the strength of “The Prophet of Fire ” that Jesus, as a man would need, to face what He had to live through.

But seeing Moses, I could not figure out with my limited knowledge, what Moses might be doing there. I felt as if a light had turned on inside me, and within what I consider a few minutes, dozens of images, in sets of two, passed before me.

Moses coming out of Egypt alone… and then Jesus being baptized in the Jordan.

Moses going down the mountain after having received the responsibility of taking the people of God out from the bondage of Pharaoh… and then Jesus choosing His twelve apostles, teaching, healing, forgiving, living among His people.

Moses bringing his people out of Egypt… and then Jesus preaching the call to conversion and announcement of the Kingdom of God on the Mountain of the Beatitudes.

Moses at the crossing of the Red Sea… and then Jesus giving sight to the blind, speech to the mute, making the lame walk and raising the dead.

Moses eating with his people the manna that God sent from Heaven, to keep them from dying of starvation on their walk towards the Promised Land… and then Jesus with His disciples, having supper for the last time with them and instituting the Eucharist in order to remain with us, giving us His Body and Blood in order to feed us and save us from eternal death.

But I noticed that Jesus, at that moment, was not alone with His apostles, and all of a sudden the room became huge. It encompassed all that my eyes could manage to see. I saw with them some people sitting in wheel chairs to the sides of the apostles, and the rest were standing behind Jesus and His disciples - hundreds, thousands of priests, dressed in white tunics and red stoles. They had their right hand extended towards the place where Jesus was lifting the bread. They were repeating with the Lord the words of the Consecration.

Jesus told me: “Take care of My brothers, because through them I will remain with you until the end of times.”

Then I saw Moses again on Mount Sinai, barefoot, as ordered by the Lord. He was on his knees, trembling at contemplating the finger of God writing the Ten Commandments for mankind… and, then, again I saw Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, on His knees, looking at, and taking on our sins, contemplating the suffering He was to endure for us, men and women, trembling and sweating blood.

Once again the Last Supper was before my eyes, Jesus with His Apostles and all the priests repeating the words of the Consecration. Jesus looked at me for a moment and said to me: “I Am the Bread of Life, and these (He raised His hands as if wanting to encompass them all) will be they who give Me to man, as food for eternal life.”

My whole body was trembling at that moment, due to the majesty of what I was beholding and understanding. Weeping, I covered my face with my hands… and after some time, perhaps minutes, which seemed hours to me, I lifted my head and saw the previous scene again.

I saw Moses lifting high a pole with a carved serpent, in order to heal with it those who had been bitten by snakes… and then I saw Jesus, lifted there in front of me on the Cross, in order to heal the souls of those who would be bitten by Satan and poisoned by sin.

The Lord to me: “Remember what I told you at the beginning that times of darkness are approaching for mankind, that will shake institutions and with them, the people. My Church will also have to go through that painful road, and it has already begun [to go through it] because it is written: ‘The Shepherd will be struck and the sheep will scatter’… But remember that I have defeated the world.”

I again contemplated the Last Supper before me. All of those priests had their face transfigured into the same face as that of Jesus. Then there was total darkness in front of me, and I heard the voice of Our Lord, very saddened as He said: “Judas, what you have to do, do it now…!”

The image returned, but now together with one of the disciples, many of those priests departed, pushing one another, running, no longer with the luminous and peaceful countenance of Jesus, but with their own faces, full of anguish and pain.

From far away I could hear the howling noise of a thousand voices in unison, as if they were running toward a cliff and falling down. Frightened, I turned my gaze to those who were with the Lord. They seemed to have not heard nor seen anything, such was their immersion into their prayer, into the moment in which they were living, that the peace of the Master gave them a majestic bearing, like that of princes.

I understand that those consecrated men, who remained with the Lord, were those who would be faithful to the choice that they made for Him. And they are those who will enter into that divine Hierarchy because they earned that right. This is because the right is the fruit of fidelity, and fidelity is the fruit of a close relationship, of intimacy. Intimacy is the fruit of self-giving, and self-giving is the fruit of agape love, which gives without asking anything in return, for the simple reason of seeking the happiness of the beloved.

Finally that [kind of] love is the fruit of knowing Him to Whom you will be faithful for the rest of your days, without allowing to fade away the desire of reproducing within yourself, the perfect gift of Him, to Whom you have surrendered.

My meditations were suddenly halted when I heard the Lord give His last shout from the Cross, between labored gasps of air, each time being a longer interval:

“Father, into your hands

I commend my Spirit”

In the book “Divine Providence”, which was published six months ago {note: the English version was published in April 2004], I wrote about my mother's death and the profound evangelization received by all of us who were around her as she was dying.

For those persons who have not read the book, I mention that it was a happy, calm and peaceful death, that of a dying person who has complete trust in the Love of God, who is anxious to leave and meet with Mercy, Who was waiting for her on the other side of her deathbed. She kept asking us for prayers and songs, as she, with her big blue eyes wide open repeated over and over Jesus' request: “Father into Your hands I commend my spirit!”

While she was dying, I kept thinking of the death of Jesus... Now the Lord was allowing me, a poor sinner, to witness this moment [the death of Jesus] and by its means relive the former [the death of her mother]. Both instances were united by the Omnipotence of Him, Who is Almighty, and in the love of Him, Who is Love Itself.  Few moments of my life will ever be so greatly impacted, and so difficult to describe... 

At Golgotha the sky was almost black, the earth was trembling and all the people had started to run, fleeing. Some screaming in fear at seeing nature itself quaking, and others weeping, begging forgiveness, and saying that truly this Man was the Son of God.

Jesus said to me: “I am going back to the Father, and one day those bad brothers, who have made a business out of their vocation, will understand, the true meaning of My predilection for them in granting them the grace to be able to make Me present in the Eucharist...”

“Then, they will no longer make use of the Altar in order to launch a homily that will confuse instead of helping man, to make politics, to justify a salary or simply to ‘fulfill their duty’ when they can no longer avoid it. And they do it watching the clock, to leave in a rush to fulfill their other ‘obligations’.

“They will have to make a halt on their way to the abyss and acknowledge that their love for themselves is greater than their love and desire to serve God and man. Because with their attitude they take away the trust and discourage those who, at least once a week, decide to go to their encounter with Me.

“From My Cross I say to them and to you: Do not complain about the sects being filled with people without asking yourselves if this is a consequence of your own testimony.”

I again heard those words, which represent the end and the beginning of all things: “Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit!” And the Head of the Savior of all humanity rested on His shoulder and chest. And it remained thus for a moment, before it came down to rest completely on His chest.  That moment, which could have been endless and which I sometimes think that it will live with me forever, was absolutely in the present to my eyes and ears when He said to me:

“My whole Body was devastated. But My joy was so great that, from the hill of My Passion, I beheld Heaven and exclaimed that all had been accomplished perfectly, and I commended My Spirit into the hands of the Loving Father.

“That Spirit, which was revealed to man the day of My Baptism in the Jordan, would return to the Father with Me so that the Trinity be complete again in Glory. And, as the Heavens were opened that day in order that the light would radiate the Love of the Third Person Who, as the Gospel says, was in the shape of a dove; now the curtain of the Temple, which covered the Ark of the Covenant, was being torn in order to pass judgement on those who had condemned Me. And that, indeed, was horrifying to them due to the culture and education of those people.

“The mission of the Word had ended, the colossal battle had reached its conclusion. The Son of Man was dying, having freely surrendered for Love. I was trustfully placing Myself in the hands of My Father, peacefully, sweetly.  Another had died a few hours earlier, hanging, in desperation, as die the cowards, the traitors, those who do not love My Father, and, hence, they do not trust in His forgiveness.”

Suddenly the light returned and the darkness disappeared. In seeing my surprise, Jesus spoke from the Cross.

“This light that you see would before long, come down upon My Apostles to illuminate and assist them, through this Spirit of Mine, Whom I was placing in the hands of the Father.  He [the Holy Spirit] would come to remind them of all that they heard Me say and to assist them by having this knowledge penetrate so deeply as to allow them, through His [the Spirit’s] Strength, to acquire all the wisdom and holiness necessary, for Me to extend Myself in them.  In this way I would continue walking among you, in order to continue healing, to continue blessing, to continue saving...

“All of this had to be seen by witnesses, in order that the real value could be understood of the sacrifice of a Man Who voluntarily surrenders His life, in donation to God and to mankind.”

The Lord did not tell me this, but I understood that it was that same Spirit, Who would pour Himself out upon the successors of the Apostles, because in some way He was referring to priests and committed lay people...

Then Jesus continued saying to me: “I have fulfilled [the Will of the Father]. I return to the Father and you, those who love Me, will also be persecuted, slandered, humiliated, mistreated. But you are not alone. I remain with you, and I leave with you what is most precious in My Life, My Mother, who from now on will be your Mother.”

As Jesus was finishing saying this, I see a soldier coming closer and, taking a lance, he whispers something that I do not quite understand.  And with an expression of pity on his face, he pierces the side of the Lord, and a great amount of Blood and Water comes down, splattering on the soldier's face. He covers his eyes with his hand and falls down on the ground.

The chest of the Redeemer was full of light, in a symphony of hues that could not be described.  Out of that open side, comes something like water, but very luminous, then blood, which mingles with that water.  It begins to open furrows on the ground.  And wherever the blood runs, white lilies marvelously arise.

Jesus' Cross disappears. I see now in its place a huge church, and these flowers are entering into it, as if they were gliding. But from the other side there are very many young men, dressed in white tunics, also entering into the church.

Suddenly, I see myself inside that church and I contemplate: all those white flowers are in front of the Altar, and they are now turning into young women.  And on the other side are the young men, dressed in their white tunics.  Men and women lay prostrate in humble prayer, their arms extended to their sides forming a Cross.  I understand that they are the women and men who are being consecrated, surrendering their lives to God.

I hear a marvelous choir, like the choir I have heard sometime during Holy Mass, and I see the Resurrected Jesus, clad in all majesty, as a King, Who at once makes a signal and the young men begin to approach Him one by one.  He, Himself anoints their hands, while He smiles with the love that I sometimes see, in the eyes of a dad, looking at his children.

Jesus looks at me for a few seconds, and then, while walking toward the middle of the Altar, He says: “Through the Priestly Order, with the power of the Holy Spirit, all the sins of man will be forgiven, and they [the priests] will open for you the Gates of Heaven... But I am a jealous lover, Who demands from them their entire will. I expect everything from a soul in accordance to the vocation to which it was called one day and consistent with the invitation that I continue to extend to all of you, through the circumstances of your every day life.”

At that precise instant, the vision of Moses and Jesus returned in a terrible way. I will try to describe it as faithfully as I can.

I saw Moses standing on a flat terrain on Mount Sinai. He was carrying in both hands two big stones with some graphics on them. (I gather that they are the Ten Commandments.) Below were the people in the midst of horrible noises and filthy scenes, which were revolting.  They seemed to be more beastly than human. The face of the prophet turned almost purple, flushed. I saw him sway back and forth, and then with force and anger hurl down both stones onto the people.  It was as if a hundred loads of dynamite fell on them because many people became air bound and many others kept falling into a great hole in the ground, screaming.

Then, I saw Jesus lifted on the Cross and, behind Him, two huge angels with very brilliant faces, but displaying a very strong expression of anger. One of them was carrying some “tablets”, (let us called them that) like the stones that Moses was carrying, but these were made of flesh. They looked as if when put together, would form a heart. On one of them it said,  “Thou shall love God above all things,” and on the other,  “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.”  The other Angel was holding in both hands a huge Chalice filled with Blood.

As the angels were about to hurl those “tablets of flesh” and the Chalice of Blood over the globe, a manly voice was heard, which said:  “Halt... I will infuse My Law in their hearts. They will be My people, and I will be their God...”

Upon hearing the voice, both angels knelt, lowering their heads and they disappeared from my sight.

In an instant I thought of the parallel between Moses and Jesus, and became horrified at the thought of what would have happened if the two angels had hurled the Two Commandments and the Chalice of Blood over the earth... I believed that all of us would have perished, receiving perhaps, a punishment that, through our sins, we seemed to be asking for very loudly.

Before this memory I am moved to do nothing else than to ask God for Mercy for the world.

I am positive that whoever reads this testimony will understand the moment in which we are living.  And the reader will be of one mind with me, in that if we do not kneel before the Living Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, making reparation and uniting our prayers, that Cup will overflow and a great part of humanity will be lost.

Then I saw the Most Holy Virgin sitting on the floor, with Jesus lying on a cloth, His head on Her bosom. She was caressing and kissing Him, shedding abundant tears.

I am a mother, and when at times my children have suffered and have been away from me, I have felt a spiritual and a physical pain. In trying to explain this I say that my breasts, which nursed the child who is now suffering or having problems, are aching.

In contemplating this picture and thinking of the Heart of our Mother, I am moved to such respect that I believe that one has no other choice than to prostrate oneself on the ground. There is the Woman, holding the head of Her dead Son, accepting the pain that is piercing Her Heart.

When a person dear to us dies, we are left with the pain. The one leaving does not take along the sorrow.

In this case, from the first “Yes” of the Holy Virgin up until this moment, both lives have been so intimately united that one could suffer or have joy with the feelings of the other.

If the Church proclaims that all human suffering has redeeming value, that it is useful for the conversion of souls, when it is offered to God with love, how can anyone feel offended upon hearing that Mary was the Co-redemptrix at the foot of the Cross?

The link that ties the Woman in the Book of Genesis, whose descendants would crush the head of the serpent, with the Woman clothed with the Sun in the book of Revelations, is it not precisely that of the Co-redemption, Her active participation, also as a victim, in that Holy Sacrifice which was consummated at the foot of the Cross?

I ask forgiveness for what I have just said if I have offended people, but let our Mother the Church pass judgment on this, since my formation is not sufficient even as to attempt to give an opinion [on this matter]. But love is recognized by Love, and for this, no intelligence is necessary.

The Calvary scene returned and the voice repeated with majesty: “...I will infuse My Law in their hearts. They will be My people, and I will be their God...!”

Then, before my eyes appeared again the great church, where not only future priests and consecrated women were entering, but also an endless number of women and men, old, young and children...

Something made me look up towards the dome of the church. There was the Virgin Mary, majestic, covering the whole scene with a light blue mantle. She wore a beautiful smile, like that of a mamma embracing her baby, protecting him with great love.

Inside was Jesus, clothed as in the picture of Christ the King. He was celebrating the Holy Mass and concelebrating with Him, were all those young men who had been anointed before. I felt great happiness in my heart.

Then Jesus told me: “Tell all My sons that it is not enough to know the fifteen Stations of the Way of the Cross by heart but to live it and to recreate it, so that every Holy Mass may truly be the memorial of My Passion.

“Tell them that from the Cross, I have leaned over each one of them, because the force of Love has granted them to be ‘Alteri Christi’... (other Christs).”

At that moment I saw a room with light colored walls and a not so big window and Jesus, resplendent, all dressed in white, Who was blowing upon His apostles and saying to them:  “Receive the Holy Spirit... Whose sins you forgive will be forgiven in Heaven...”

At this point I transcribe the last words that Jesus had just given me for you at the moment that I was finishing the writing of this testimony at the daybreak of the festivity of the Baptism of Our Lord.

“Dear brother, this testimony has been for you, that you may be able to live a renewed Lenten time in deep meditation about the union that I want to have with you, and through you, with My people.

“Do not allow the rationalism of the world to exchange your white vestments for a sickle and a hammer. Your library must be to contemplate Me on the Cross. Your weapons, and those of every Christian must be prayer, the company of My Mother and the door of salvation, the Eucharist.

“But always make sure that your celebration is as that of Holy Thursday, that celebration which moves deeply the hearts of lay people. Remember that My people want holiness in their Shepherds.”

The Closing Words
of Catalina

Dear Fathers, most appreciated priests:

Here ends this little book, a testimony of favors, never deserved, but only given through the Immense Love of God towards humanity and towards you, the consecrated souls.

With God's favor, these pages [referring to the original version in Spanish] will be released for distribution on the day of Our Lady of the Candles [La Candelaria]. She is my Godmother, and I have placed all of you under Her protection.

Certain Bible passages and different words of Jesus come to mind, and I want to share them with you:

Jesus called His twelve Apostles together; He gave them power and authority over all demons and the capacity to cure diseases. And He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said to them: "Take nothing for the journey; no bags, nor bread, nor money nor clothes.”

Then He chose another seventy-two, who He sent ahead of Him, two by two into all the cities and places where He Himself would be going. Then He said to them: “The harvest it plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, you must be wise as serpents and simple as doves. He who listens to you listens to Me, and he who shows contempt for you shows contempt for Me, and he who shows contempt for Me, shows contempt for Him who sent Me. And you will be taken before governors and kings for My sake, to bear testimony about Me before them. Do not worry about what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will speak for you.”

“You will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who perseveres to the end will be saved.”

“Be not afraid, for nothing is hidden that will not be discovered. What I tell you in the dark, say in the daylight and what you hear whispered, preach from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can cast both soul and body into hell.”

“Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father Who is in Heaven, but whoever denies Me before men I will also deny before My Father Who is in Heaven.”

The seventy-two returned full of joy saying: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

And He said to them: “I was seeing Satan fall like lightning. I have given you power to handle serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy will not be able to harm you. But do not rejoice so much that the demons are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven...”

I give you thanks, from the depth of my heart: for all the pardons granted to men and women, in the name of our Church; for giving your life to Him, Who is The Way, the Truth and the Life; and for bringing Jesus, the Bread of Heaven, to us in order to strengthen us in this temporal exile. May He be the source of union and charity among those of us who make up His Church, for the greater Glory of God and for the salvation of souls.

With profound respect, and in the Merciful Love of Jesus

Catalina

February 2, 2004

The feast of the Presentation of Our Lord,
and of Our Lady of Candelaria

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Editors’ Note

The books of “The Great Crusade” make up a collection of volumes, which are already more than ten in number [in Spanish], and its teachings convey the spirituality of the Apostolate of the New Evangelization (ANE), which is based on Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The ANE is a Catholic lay movement, which arises in response to the insistent call of John Paul II to all the baptized, to commit themselves to the task of promoting the Good News, that Christ has died and risen again in order to save us from sin.

As Catholics that we are, we fully abide by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, which states the following in regards to the matter of private revelations:

Canon 66: “The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

Canon 67: Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such “revelations”.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, canons 66 and 67

As can be seen inside our books, the majority of them have the proper “Imprimatur”, granted by bishops of the Catholic Church, from the Latin and Chaldean Rites. The books have been translated to more than six languages, and have been recommended by several bishops, who deem their reading, helpful to the growth of the Catholic faithful.

The first books in this "The Great Crusade" series were not offset printed but, instead, they were distributed by making photocopies directly from the original transcriptions.

In time, many people (who we understand with very good will), helped out by “retyping and formatting” the books in order to make more photocopies, given that the “copies of the copies” had become in certain cases illegible... Unfortunately, too many mistakes were made during these processes. There were not only spelling but, also, typing errors, which in some instances ended up altering the meaning of the texts, thus generating quite a few problems for us.

It is precisely for this reason that the Apostolate of the New Evangelization, at the suggestion of some priests and bishops, has decided to ask that the readers under no cause or circumstance, transcribe these messages again without strict vigilance and the proper authorization of our Director General, Father Renzo Sessolo, SDB.

January 2004

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Scriptural Citations Referenced by Jesus

Note: The Scriptural Verses that follow are from the Challoner revision (1749-1752) of the 16^th–17^th century Douay-Rheims Bible [DRB], a “scrupulously faithful translation into English of the Latin Vulgate Bible by St. Jerome (342-420) translated into Latin fom the original languages” [quoted from the Preface of this Bible].

GENESIS 22:6-8

6 And he [Abraham] took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, 7 Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? 8 And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

PSALM 95:12-13

Note: Psalm 95 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 96 in modern Bible translations.

12 The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice 13 before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

WISDOM 2:12-14; 19-20

12 Let us, therefore, lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. 13 He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God. 14 He is become a censurer of our thoughts.

19 Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness, and try his patience. 20 Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.

WISDOM 14:7

7 For blessed is the wood, by which justice cometh.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:4-6

4 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:8

8 He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:7

7 He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.

MICAH (MICHEAS) 6:3

3 O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me.

PSALM 34:11-12

Note: Psalm 34 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 35 in modern Bible translations.

11 Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not. 12 They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.

JOSHUA (JOSUE) 7:10-12

10 And the Lord said to Josue: Arise, why liest thou flat on the ground? 11 Israel hath sinned, and transgressed my covenant: and they have taken of the anathema, and have stolen and lied, and have hid it among their goods. 12 Neither can Israel stand before his enemies, but he shall flee from them: because he is defiled with the anathema. I will be no more with you, till you destroy him that is guilty of this wickedness.

LAMENTATIONS 3:11-15

3:11 Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in pieces, he hath made me desolate. 12 Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows. 13 He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver. 14 He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day long. 15 He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with wormwood.

PSALM 139:5-6

Note: Psalm 139 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 140 in modern Bible translations.

5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps:

6 The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the wayside.

PSALM 37:7-8; 12-13; 20-21

Note: Psalm 37 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 38 in modern Bible translations.

7 I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowfull all the day long. 8 For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in my flesh.

12 My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off: 13 And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.

20 But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 21 They that render evil for good, have detracted me, because I followed goodness.

JOB 19:25

25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.

SONG OF SONGS (CANTICLE OF CANTICLES) 5:17

Note: Verse 5:17 in the DRB is the same as verse 6:1 in modern Bible translations.

17 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?

LAMENTATIONS 1:15

15 Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Juda.

JEREMIAH (JEREMIAS) 14:17

17 And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an exceeding grievous evil.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:2

2 And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 50:5-6

5 The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back. 6 I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 52:14

14 As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:3

3 Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.

PSALM 108:22-24

Note: Psalm 108 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 109 in modern Bible translations.

22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me. 23 I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts. 24 My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 22:9-16

9 And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool, 10 And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall. 11 And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.

12 And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:13 And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

14 And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

15 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him: 16 What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.

JOEL 2:12

12 Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.

LAMENTATIONS 3:38-39

38 Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Highest? 39 Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 51:17

17 Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.

JEREMIAH (JEREMÍAS) 31:6

6 For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 61:1-2

1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up. 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 33:10

10 Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself.

LAMENTATIONS 5:16

16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have sinned.

JOB 19:8-11

8 He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness. 9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and hath taken the crown from my head. 10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up. 11 His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy.

SIRACH (ECCLESASTICUS) 5:16

Note: Verses 5:16-17 in the DRB is the same as verse 5:14 used in the Spanish version of this book.

16 Be not called a whisperer, and be not taken in thy tongue, and confounded. 17 For confusion and repentance is upon a thief, and an evil mark of disgrace upon the double tongued, but to the whisperer hatred, and enmity, and reproach.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 1: 6

6 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.

GENESIS 37:31-32

31 And they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had killed: 32 Sending some to carry it to their father, and to say: This we have found: see whether it be thy son's coat, or not.

PSALM 21:7,18-19

Note: Psalm 21 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 22 in modern Bible translations.

7 But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.

18 They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. 19 They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 61:10

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 52:7

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall reign!

ZECHARIAH (ZACHARIAS) 12:10; 13:6

12:10 And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.

13:6 And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:12

12 Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.

EXODUS 12:5-7

5 And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year: according to which rite also you shall take a kid. 6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month: and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

EZEKIEL (EZECHIEL) 17:22-23

22 Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and eminent. 23 On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall shoot forth into branches, and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof.

SONG OF SONGS (CANTICLE OF CANTICLES) 8:6-7

6 Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. 7 Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.

NUMBERS 21:8-9

8 And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. 9 Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

DEUTERONOMY 21:23

23 His body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the same day: for he is accursed by God that hangeth on a tree: and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in possession.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 1:10

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.

LAMENTATIONS 1:12

12 Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.

REVELATIONS (APOCALYPSE) 5:6

6 And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a Lamb standing as if were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes: which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.

JUDITH 15:9-10.

9 And Joachim the high priest came from Jerusalem to Bethulia with all his ancients to see Judith. 10 And when she was come out to him, they all blessed her with one voice, saying: Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people: 11 For thou hast done manfully, and thy heart has been strengthened, because thou hast loved chastity, and after thy husband hast not known any other: therefore also the hand of the Lord hath strengthened thee, and therefore thou shalt be blessed for ever. 12 And all the people said: So be it, so be it.

PSALM 15:10

Note: Psalm 15 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 16 in modern Bible translations.

10 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.

PSALM 29:6

Note: Psalm 29 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 30 in modern Bible translations.

6 For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.

PSALM 23:7

Note: Psalm 23 in the DRB is the same as Psalm 24 in modern Bible translations.

7 Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 40:1-2

1 Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.

ISAIAH (ISAIAS) 53:12

12 Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.

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Books of “The Great Crusade”

The following books, dictated by Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Catalina (Katya Rivas) in Spanish, have been translated and published in English as of the summer 2004:

· “The Passion” of Jesus Christ;

· “Words of Jesus and Mary” including: The Holy Mass; a Holy Hour devotion before the Blessed Sacrament; Divine Providence concerning death and the Sacrament of Mercy and Reconciliation and meditations for The Stations of the Cross;

· “The Great Crusade of Love” with many messages dictated to Catalina;

· “The Door to Heaven” ” with many more messages dictated to Catalina; and

· “From Sinai to Calvary”, Jesus explains the profound meaning of His seven last words from the Cross.

In addition, the following large books of messages dictated to Catalina are in the process of being translated as of the summer 2004:

· “The Great Crusade of Mercy”; and

· “The Great Crusade of Salvation”

All the books as they are published are available for reading and printing on a computer at no cost at “www.greatcrusade.org”. For information ordering printed versions of the books, please visit this Web site or write to:

Love and Mercy Publications

P.O. Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443

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Apostolate of the New Evangelization (ANE)

Lent 2004

www.a-n-e.net www.jesucristovivo.org

ane@a-n-e.net

Calle 1-H No. 104 esquina 20

Col. Mexico Norte, C.P. 97128

Telephones : (52) (999) 9444-05-40

Fax: (52) (999) 948-17-77

Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.