Importance of Repeated Acts

From The Writings Of Luisa Piccarreta

“The Little Daughter Of The Divine Will”

 

Letters of Luisa #68

Therefore, let us be attentive!  Let us not give this sorrow to our dear Jesus – to live without the life of the Supreme Fiat.  It is our life – fully and always ours; let us not put it aside, let us live together; let us make it breathe and move within us.  Let us not lose the seed we have acquired by reading just the little drops of a Will so holy; but rather, let us water it with our repeated acts, so that its Life may grow, beautiful and flourishing, within our souls.

 

Letters of Luisa #70

My good daughter in the Divine Volition,

Here I am to make you content.  I have not abandoned you, nor did your mission go lost.  Whatever one does for God is never lost; rather, the seed is formed, which, in sprouting, makes Life be born again, more flourishing, strong and beautiful.  Everything you have done, both for yourself and for others, is seeds that you have formed – seeds which make the Life of the Divine Will be born again.  However, our cooperation is needed – our repeated acts in the FIAT, which like beneficial water, water the seed in order to form the life.  And once the life has been formed, it takes our will united with His in order to make it grow; it takes our continuous love in order to nourish it.  Therefore, nothing is lost for us, if we really want to live from the Divine Will.  This Life exists within us, it did not escape; however, one must not abandon it, but make it grow and nourish it.  The trouble is, rather, for those who have not yet known it, because knowledge is necessary in order to possess.

 

VOL. 18 – October 4, 1925
Repeating the same good serves to form the water with which to water the seed of the virtues.  Everything that Our Lord has done is suspended in the Divine Will, in waiting, to give itself to creatures. 

I was fusing myself in the Most Holy Will of God according to my usual way, and while going around in It to place my ‘I love You’ upon all things, I wished that my Jesus would see or hear nothing but my ‘I love You’, or through this ‘I love You’ of mine.  And while repeating the singsong of my ‘I love You’, I thought to myself:  ‘It shows that I am really a little child, who can say nothing but the little story she has learned.  And then, what good comes to me by repeating ‘I love You, I love You…’ over and over again?’  But while I was thinking of this, my adorable Jesus came out from within my interior, showing my ‘I love You’ impressed everywhere in all of His Divine Person:  on His lips, on His face, on His forehead, in His eyes, in the middle of His breast, on the back and in the center of the palms of His hands, on the tips of His fingers – in sum, everywhere.  And with a tender tone, He told me:  “My daughter, aren’t you happy that none of the ‘I love You’s’ that come out of you go lost, but all remain impressed in Me?  And then, do you know what good comes to you by repeating them?

You must know that when the soul decides to do some good, to exercise a virtue, she forms the seed of that virtue.  By repeating those acts, she forms the water with which to water that seed in the earth of her heart; and the more often she repeats them, the more she waters that seed, and the plant grows beautiful and green, in such a way that it quickly produces the fruits of that seed.  On the other hand, if she is slow in repeating, many times the seed remains suffocated; and if it comes out at all, it grows thin and never gives fruit.  Poor seed, without enough water in order to grow.  My Sun does not rise over that seed, to give it fecundity, maturity and a beautiful color to its fruits, because it is not fecund.  On the other hand, by always repeating those same acts, the soul contains much water with which to water that seed; my Sun rises over that seed every time It sees it being watered; and It delights so much, knowing that it has much strength in order to grow, that It makes its branches reach up to Me; and in seeing its many fruits, I pick them with pleasure, and I rest under its shadow.

So, repeating your ‘I love You’ for Me procures for you the water with which to water and form the tree of love.  Repeating patience waters and forms the tree of patience; repeating your acts in my Will forms the water with which to water and form the divine and eternal tree of my Will.  Nothing can be formed with one single act, but with many upon many repeated acts.  Only your Jesus contains the virtue of forming all things, and the greatest things, with one single act, because I contain the creative power.  But the creature, by dint of repeating the same act, forms the good she wants to do, bit by bit.

Through habit, that good or that virtue becomes her nature, and the creature becomes the possessor of it, and it forms all of her fortune.  This happens also in the natural order.  No one becomes a teacher by having read the vowels and the consonants once or a few times, but by repeating them constantly, to the point of filling his mind, his will and his heart with all that science that is needed in order to be able to be a teacher to others.  No one feels satiated if he does not eat, bite after bite, the food that is needed in order be satiated.  No one harvests the seeds if he does not repeat, who knows how many times, his work in his little field; and so with many other things.  To repeat the same act is a sign that one loves, appreciates and wants to possess that very act which he does.  Therefore, repeat, and repeat incessantly, without ever tiring.”

 

VOL. 24 – April 29, 1928

How the virtues are seeds, plants, flowers and fruits, while the Divine Will is Life.  The wonders of the ‘I love You’; how love is never tired.  One who lives in the Divine Will cannot go to Purgatory – the universe would rebel.

My poor mind is always prey to the Supreme Fiat.  It seems to me I can think of nothing else, nor do I want to occupy myself with anything else.  I feel a current in me which stops me now at one point, now at another point of the Divine Will; but I always end up in It without ever taking all of Its endless light, because I am incapable of it.  And my lovable Jesus, moving in my interior, making me a surprise, told me:  “My daughter, when the soul practices a virtue, the first act she practices forms the seed, and as she practices the second, the third act and so forth, she cultivates the seed, she waters it, and it grows into a plant and produces its fruits.  If then she practices it only once, or a few times, the seed is neither watered nor cultivated – it dies, and the soul remains without plant and without fruit, because a virtue is never formed by one single act, but by repeated acts.  It happens as to the earth:  it is not enough to sow the seed in its womb, but it is wise to cultivate it often and to water it, if one wants the plant and the fruits of that seed; otherwise the earth becomes hard over that seed and buries it without giving it life.

Now, one who wants the virtue of patience, of obedience and the like, must sow the first seed, and then water it and cultivate it with other acts.  In this way, she will form many beautiful and varied plants.  On the other hand, my Will is not seed like the virtues – but life; and as the soul begins to be resigned, to look at my Will in everything and to live in It, the little divine life is formed in her.  And as she advances in the practice of living in my Will this divine life keeps growing and expanding, to the point of filling the soul with all of this life, in such a way that nothing is left of her but a veil that covers it and hides it within itself.  And just as with virtues, so with my Will:  if the creature does not give the continuous nourishment of her acts to the little divine life within her, this life does not grow, and does not fill her entirely.

It happens as to a newborn baby who dies at birth if he is not nourished.  In fact, since my Will is life, more than the virtues which are images of the plants, It needs continuous nourishment in order to grow and to become a whole life, as much as a creature is capable of.  This is why it is necessary that you always live in It:  that you may take Its delicious food from my Will Itself, so as to nourish Its divine life in you.  See then, how great is the difference which exists between the virtues and my Will:  the first are plants, flowers and fruits which embellish the earth and delight the creatures, while my Fiat is heaven, sun, air, heat, heartbeat – all things which form life, and divine life, in the creature.  Therefore, love this life, and give it continuous nourishment, that it may fill you completely and nothing may be left of you.”

 

VOL. 26 – June 19, 1929
The Divine Will and the operating Life of It in the creature. 
Difference between one who lives in the Fiat and one who does not. 

My poor mind was wandering in the Divine Fiat; I felt the sweet enchantment of Its enrapturing light, and I thought to myself:  ‘But, what is this Divine Will in my poor soul?’  And my beloved Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, what fortune yours is to live under the sweet enchantment of my Divine Volition.  Don’t you know that when It takes possession of the creature, It forms in her Its operating Life, in such a way that It operates in the one in whom It reigns just as It operates within Itself?  And, more than Queen, It imposes Itself over everything, It extends with Its light in the littleness of the creature, It forms in her Its sweet enchantment for the human will so as to be more free to form Its Life.  And since the Divine Life of my Fiat is composed of repeated acts never interrupted, It is not subject to stopping, and this is why you feel within yourself an act that never ends, a light that is never extinguished, a love that always burns.  Not so for those who do not live in my Volition.  They feel the Divine Life interrupted in their interior, their acts broken; they feel themselves now one way, now another; their will is not invested by a continuous light that sweetly nourishes them and enchants them, such that, feeling the sweetness of my Volition, they would give not a thought to entering the field in order to operate in a human way; and if they feel the light, it is at intervals.

A symbol of one who lives in my Divine Will is one who were able to remain always under the sun.  Its light never ends, nor does it need to be fed in order not to become extinguished.  So, one who could live under the sun would feel light raining down constantly upon herself; and since the light contains admirable effects, she would nourish herself with sweetnesses, with fragrances, with varieties of colors, with lights, in such a way as to feel the very life of the sun being formed within herself.  On the other hand, one who does not live in my Will, be it even one who is not evil, is symbolized by one who lives under the light of the low world, which has neither the virtue nor the power to form a sweet enchantment of light, such as to eclipse her so much that she would not be able to look at anything but light.  And it is subject to becoming extinguished very often, because it does not possess by nature the continuous nourishing virtue; and if it is not nourished, her light ends; and since a light formed by the creature possesses neither sweetness, nor colors, nor fragrances, she cannot feel the life of that light being formed within herself.  What great difference between one who lives in my Divine Will and one who lives outside of It.”

May everything be for the glory of God, and for the good of my poor soul.
 
VOL. 28 – October 18, 1930

My poor mind continues its course inside the Divine Will, according to the circumstances I find myself in; but my point of support, my origin, the means, the end of my acts, is always the Divine Will.  Its Life runs within me like the sweet murmuring of the sea, which never stops.  And I, as requital of homage and of love, give to It the murmuring of my acts which the same Divine Fiat makes me do.  And my always lovable Jesus continues, telling me:  “My daughter, each act done in my Divine Will forms a divine resurrection in the soul.  Life is formed, not of one act, but of many acts united together; so, the more acts are done, so many times does she rise again in my Will, in such a way as to be able to form a complete Life, all of Divine Will.

Just as the human life is formed of many distinct members in order to be able to form its life, and if there were only one member, it could not be called life, and if some members were missing, it would be called defective life; in the same way, the repeated acts done in my Will serve as if different members of Divine Will were formed in the creature; and while they serve to reunite together these acts in order to form the Life, they serve to nourish the same Life.  And since my Divine Will has no end, the more acts are done in It, the more Its Divine Life grows in the creature.  And while this Life rises again and grows, the human will receives death from these very acts done in my Divine Volition; it finds no nourishments with which to nourish itself, and feels itself dying at each act done in my Divine Will.  But – what sorrow! – as many times as the creature does her will in her acts, so many times does she make Mine die in her act.  Oh! how horrifying it is that a finite will casts out of its act an infinite Will that wants to give it life of light, of beauty, of sanctity.”

Then, I continued my acts in the Divine Volition, with my usual refrain:  ‘I love You, I love You in everything You have done for love of Us.’  But while I was doing this, I thought to myself:  ‘Blessed Jesus must be tired of my singsong ‘I love You, I love You’.  So, why say it?’  And my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:  “My daughter, true love, accompanied also by the words ‘I love You’, never brings Me tiredness, because, I being a complex of love and a continuous act of love, as I never cease to love, when I find my Love in the creature, I find Myself; and the sign that her love is a birth from my Love is when it is continuous.  An interrupted love is not the sign of Divine Love; at the most, it can be a love of circumstances, an interested love, such that, as these cease, love ceases.  And also the words ‘I love You, I love You’, are nothing other than the air that my Love produces in the creature, which, condensed within her, produces as though many flashes of little flames toward the One whom she loves.  And I, when I hear you say ‘I love You, I love You’ – do you know what I say?  ‘My daughter is flashing in the air of her love toward Me, and one flash does not wait for another.’  And besides, all continuous acts are those which have the virtue of preserving, nourishing and growing the life of creatures.  See, also the sun rises every morning and has its continuous act of light; nor can it be said that by rising every day it tires men and the earth; rather, the complete opposite – all long for the rising of the sun, and only because it rises every day does it form the nourishment of the earth.

Day after day, it keeps nourishing, little by little, the sweetness in the fruits, until it makes them reach perfect maturation; it nourishes the varied tints of colors for the flowers, the development for all the plants; and so with all the rest.  A continuous act can be called perennial miracle, though creatures do not pay attention to it; but your Jesus cannot do without paying attention, because I know the prodigious virtue of an act never interrupted.  Therefore, your ‘I love You’ serves to preserve, nourish and grow the Life of my Love in you; if you do not nourish It, It cannot grow, nor receive the multiplicity of the sweetnesses and the variety of the divine colors which my Love contains.”

 

VOL. 28 – November 20, 1930

Therefore, do not fear, because fear renders unhappy the good that one possesses and embitters the purest, the holiest and divine joys that exist in my Fiat.  More so, since each act done in my Divine Will forms the nourishment in order to nourish the past acts done in It.  In fact, many acts united together have formed Its Life in the soul, and life cannot be preserved and grow without nourishment; therefore, one act serves to preserve another and to form the Life of my Will in the creature.  Repeated acts form the water with which to water It, the air to give continuous breathing to this Life, all of Heaven; the heartbeat to make It feel the continuous heartbeat of my Will, the food to preserve It alive.

And just as the body cannot live without nourishment, without the air that makes it breathe continuously, and without the heartbeat that gives motion to its whole life, nor is it enough to have taken food a few times, or to breathe and palpitate at intervals to be able to form the human life, but always – always, because only continuous acts have the virtue of forming life, otherwise the life is extinguished; in the same way, one who wants to form within herself the Life of my Volition has need of repeated acts, in such way that nothing be lacking to this Life, either the air to make It breathe, or the food to nourish It, or the heat or the light to make her feel the life of Heaven in her soul.  Therefore, do no be concerned with anything else – but always forward in my Divine Will.”

 

VOL. 29 – May 4, 1931

  Therefore, you will be attentive not to keep My gifts as useless; I placed them in you so that, with these repeated acts in My Will, we may together impetrate the great gift that My Divine Will come to reign upon earth.  More so, good daughter, since the repeated acts are like fluid for the plant.  If the plant has no fluid, it withers and cannot produce either flowers or fruits; the fluid is like the vital blood of the plant that, circulating in it, preserves it, makes it grow, and makes it produce the most beautiful and tasty fruits, such as to form the glory and the profit of the farmer.  But this fluid does not form on its own in the plant; it is the farmer that must be attentive to water it and cultivate it—and not once, but always, giving it, as though in its nature, sufficient fluid so that the poor plant may find the daily nourishment in order to vegetate and grow, to be able to give its fruits to he who cultivates it.

But if the farmer is slothful, the plant loses the fluid and dies.

“See, then, what the repeated acts are:  they are the blood of the soul, the nourishment, the preservation and the growth of My Gifts.  And I, as Celestial Farmer, never cease watering you; so, there is no danger that I might be slothful.  But you must receive this vital fluid; and only then do you receive it, when you repeat the acts in My Will in the depth of your soul.  Then you open your mouth, and I, watering you, give you the blood into your soul, so as to give you Divine warmth, celestial nourishment; and adding for you more words of Mine, I preserve you and I increase My Gifts.  Oh! if the plant had reason and refused to be watered by the farmer, what would be the lot of the poor plant?  The lot of losing life!  And what sorrow for the poor farmer?

Therefore, to repeat the acts is to want life; it is to take the nourishment.  To repeat is to love and appreciate, and satisfy the yearnings and make your Celestial Farmer content, who, with so much love, has worked in the field of your soul.  And as I hear you repeat your acts, whether together with Me or on your own, you give Me the fruits of My work, and I feel loved back and repaid for the many gifts I have given you; and I dispose Myself to give you greater gifts.  Therefore, be attentive, and let your constancy be the winning strength that conquers and dominates your Jesus.”

 

VOL. 29 – June 8, 1931

So, the whole Creation is nothing other than a display of Our loving Will toward the creature; and in Its loving display, It keeps repeating:  ‘Fiat, Fiat,’ to pearl all Creation with Its display of love.  More so, since each act, word, thought, done in Our Divine Will, form the nourishment of the soul.  Nourishment preserves life, it makes it grow, and maintains for it the necessary strength to be able to form sufficient nourishments so as not to remain on an empty stomach.  So, the continued acts are nothing other than foods that are prepared from one day to the next, so as to always have something with which to nourish oneself.  If no acts are done, she will have no food; so, the poor creature will have nothing with which to satisfy her hunger, therefore the life of the good, holy and Divine Acts will die in her.

 If then the acts are not continued, but every now and then, she will have scarce nourishments; and when food is not sufficient, the life of good grows as weak, and weakness makes one lose the taste and the appetite for nourishing oneself.

“On the other hand, when the acts are continued, each act has its exercise—one makes itself food, one water, one fire in order to cook them, one condiment to make itself be enjoyed, in such a way as to whet the appetite.  In sum, the repeated acts are nothing other than Divine Cuisine, forming the celestial dining for the creature.  And, oh! how beautiful it is to see the creature who, with the continuation of her acts in Our Fiat, prepares for herself Divine Nourishments, and feeds herself with the foods of her Celestial Fatherland.  In fact, you must know that one holy thought calls for another, one word, one good act, calls for another; and one serves the other in order to be nourished—and nourishment forms life.”

 

VOL. 32 – July 30, 1933

“Therefore, when creatures will hear that My long Speaking, My almost continuous Visits, My so many Graces, will serve to form the Life of My Divine Will in you, they will no longer marvel about the ways that I have had, about the Graces that I have made, about the so many Truths that I have said.  It was Life that had to be formed, and Life has need of continuous acts.  What life can say that it does not have need of continuous acts?  Not one.

Works do not have need of continuous acts, but life needs them:  the breath, the heartbeat, the continuous motion; every day a food that sustains her, a garment that covers her, a dwelling that keeps her secure.  See, therefore, how everything I that have done and will do was necessary for Me in order to form this Life of My Divine Will, and was necessary for you in order to receive It and possess It, and to not let It lack anything that is befitting of a Divine Life.

“When I act, I act with Divine Wisdom, Order, and Harmony.  Could one say to you that this Life of My Divine Will needs to be formed in you without making It known to you, without giving you the Divine Materials in order to form It, and the continuous food in order to make It grow?  I do not know how to do these things.  If I say that I want something, I must give everything that is necessary, and in a Super-Abundant Way, in order that the creature would be able to do what I want.  And since creatures do not know My Way of acting, they marvel, they doubt it, and certain ones reach to condemning My Work and the creature who I have the aim of completing My great Designs that will help the whole entire world, because the Life of My Divine Will Operating in the creature is not subject to either dying, or ending, but It will have Its Perpetuation in the midst of the human generations.  Therefore let Me do, and always continue you flight in My Divine Will.”

 

VOL. 33 – March 11, 1934

After this, I continued to think about the Divine Volition, and my beloved Jesus added:  “The sign if the soul Lives in My Will is if all things internal and external are bearers of My Will, because to say that ‘I possess Its Life,’ and not feel It, is impossible.  Therefore she will feel It in the heartbeat, in the breath, in the blood that circulates in her veins, in the thought that forms in her mind, in the voice that gives life to her word, and so forth.  So the internal act echoing the external, makes My Will found in the air that she breathes, in the water that she drinks, in the food that she takes, in the sun that gives her light and heat, in sum, the internal and external give each other a hand and form so many acts in order to form the Life of My Will in them.  One act alone does not form life, but continuous and repeated acts form life.

“Then, in My Will everything is present, as in the act of doing everything that was done by Us, and the creature in It enters into the Power of Our Present Acts, and she does what We do; she remains invested by Our Creative Strength, by Our Love that always rises.  She understands that it is really for her that He does everything, and O! how she Loves and wants to do everything for her Creator.

 “On the other hand, outside of Our Fiat, what We have done are seen as past things, done for everyone, but not for her alone.  So love does not awake in her, it sleeps, it remains as in lethargy and they think of it as a love far away, not in act.  Therefore there is such difference between one who Lives in My Will and one who Lives outside of It, that there is no comparison that holds up.  Therefore be attentive and thank Me for the Great Good that I have made you, of letting you know what it means to Live in My Volition.”

 

VOL. 36 – May 27, 1938

Continuous and repeated acts bind God more to the creature and form the Strength of her soul.  How Beautiful it is to Live in the Divine Will.  How God Himself begs the creature.  The Rain of Love that God pours over the creature and the rain of Love from those who Live in the Fiat.

I feel the need to enclose myself inside the Divine Volition to continue my life in It.  O! how I would Love to be imprisoned in Its Light, so that I could neither see nor hear anything else but what regards Its Will.

Then my beloved Jesus, coming back to visit my poor soul, all Love told me: “My blessed daughter, I want you here, imprisoned in My Will, so that no other things can have Life in you.  Now, you must know that all the harmony of the creature is in the repetition of her good acts done in My Will.  A single act does not form any harmony or Beauty, but many continuous acts United together call the attention of God, Who puts Himself in waiting for the acts of the creature.  As she performs them, He communicates to her, now Beauty, now Sanctity, now Goodness, Wisdom or Love.  In sum, He provides her with His ornaments and Divine Qualities.  All the acts repeated by the creature form the strength of her soul, binding God even more to herself.

They form Heaven in the depth of the soul and as she goes on repeating her acts, some are turned into star, others into wind blowing whispers of Love, others become a sea continuously murmuring Love, Glory, Adoration to God the Creator.  In sum, the whole atmosphere is reproduced in her.  However, when the acts are not continuously repeated, they lack that Unifying Power that gives Strength to all; they lack that Divine Mode of acting unceasingly, sustaining each of them with Creative Strength in Perennial Attitude of doing and redoing again.

“Furthermore, a single act has never formed any Sanctity because it has no Strength; it does not possess the Life of Love, since True Love never says ‘enough’—never stops—and if it does, it’s dead.  Only continuously repeated acts can send good surprises to Heaven where, as one arriving act is being enjoyed, another one follows and more and more arrive forming the Enchantment for the Heavenly Fatherland.  Therefore, in My Will there is always something to do and time can’t be wasted.”

 

VOL. 36 – September 5, 1938

“My daughter, Living in My Will is Life—not Virtue—that I must form. And Life needs Me, and continuous Acts—otherwise it would not be Life.  At the most it could be a Work, that doesn’t need either continuous Acts or Life.  Therefore, I do not break the Life because of involuntary indisposition or weakness, but I continue It; and it may be that in those same indispositions there is even My Will, allowing those weaknesses; in which case the will of the creature would be running into Mine anyway.  And then, among everything, I look at the agreement done together—the firm decision taken—against which there has been no other decision.  Looking at this, I keep compensating her in anything that is missing.  Even more, I Redouble the Graces.  I surround her with New Love—with New stratagems of Love to make her more attentive, and I provoke in her heart an extreme need to Live in My Will, and I pray her to hold It so tight as to always be able to Live together with It.”

 

VOL. 36 – November 13, 1938

Then, I was thinking to myself:  how can one know whether he is Living in the Divine Will?

My sweet Jesus added: “My daughter, it’s easy to know it. You must know that, when My Fiat Reigns in the soul, It keeps Its Act in continuous Operation.  It cannot be present and not do something. It is Life, and It must Breathe, move, Palpitate, make Itself heard. It must have Its Primary Operating Act so the creature feels Its Empire, and follows Its Acts, almost continuously, in the Divine Will.  Therefore, continuation is a sure sign that one Lives in It.  With this continuation, he feels the need of Divine Breathing, motion and attitude.  Therefore, if he stops his continuous acts he feels as though he is missing Life, motion and everything else.  Soon he restarts his continuous acts, because he knows that it would cost too much to do otherwise.  It would cost him Divine Life, and one who has possessed It can hardly let It go.

Now, what is this action of the creature in the Divine Will?  It is the sequence of My Life and of My Will in the creature, because only My Will has the virtue of being Unceasing in Its continuous Acts. Otherwise, if it could be said so, everyone and everything would remain as if paralyzed and with no life; but this cannot be.  Now the creature does not possess by herself this virtue of operating continuously, but when united with My Will, she has the virtue, the Strength, the will and the Love to do it.  How much she can change things.  In fact, the creature who lets herself be carried and possessed by It can make such changes that she no longer recognizes herself, if she even retains a distant memory of her past life.  There is also another sign.  When My Will sees the soul being disposed, It first embalms her—her will, her pains—with an air of Peace; then It forms Its Throne.

Therefore, one who Lives in my Will possesses a Strength that is never extinguished; a Love that does not Love anybody, but Truly Loves all in God.  To how many sacrifices she exposes herself for all—and for each one in particular.  Poor daughter, she is the True Martyr and Victim of all.  O!, how many times in seeing her suffering, I look at her with so much Tenderness and Compassion, and to cheer her up I say:   ‘My daughter, you received My same Destiny.  Poor daughter, Courage; your Jesus Loves you more.’  And in feeling more Loved by me, she smiles in the sufferings and abandons herself in My arms.  My daughter, to experience, to possess what my Will can do, creatures need to be inside of It; otherwise they won’t understand a thing.”

 Fiat!!!