2nd Conference Bernardino Giuseppe Bucci, O.F.M

Translation by Iole C. Checcone, Ph.D.

Luisa Piccarreta and Devotion to Mary

 Luisa had a great devotion to Mary, the Blessed Virgin. In fact, as soon as the Association of the Daughters of Mary was organized in Corato she immediately became a member. This is still during the period of Luisa’s childhood.  The director of the association was Fr. Cataldo de Benedictis.

Her devotion to the Blessed Virgin did not end with this emotional yearning towards Mary, but became a dominant theme of her spiritual reflections.  Luisa will write stupendous pages about the Blessed Virgin and Her role in the Reign of the Divine Will.  The Servant of God breaks new ground in the study of Mary, and deepens in a unique way her reflections about the Virgin.  In fact, Marion experts always spoke about the Virgin by considering her life according to human terms. Luisa inverts this concept and states that: “The Virgin, from the moment of Her conception, had the faculty of reason”.  For this reason, She was able to have from God the accurate perception of the sin perpetrated by the human free will which spoiled the treasures of grace that God wanted to give mankind.

The Virgin, in seeing all the evil that human will perpetrated, bound her will at the feet of the  Blessed Trinity, so that in Her, might always reign the Divine Will.  The Virgin never gave room to Her human will and became the Queen of the Divine Will, for which God filled Her with many, and such bountiful gifts, as to form in Her His reign, His glory, His power and prepare a worthy residence for the Eternal Word that would become flesh.  In fact, Mary was the first heiress of the Kingdom of the Divine Will that one day would be given to all humanity.  Mary is, therefore, the Queen of heaven and earth; it is She who would become The Mother of God.

Luisa asserts that the Church has barely begun to understand the merit of the Blessed Virgin:  “Mary is all to be rediscovered”.  There is no greater creature that could be compared to Her splendor; Mary is Creation’s masterpiece.  Mary is the Queen of martyrs, not because she shed Her blood for Her faith, not because of the pain caused Her by the crucifixion of Her Beloved Son, but because She never gave room to Her own will; everything She accomplished was done in the sole and single Will of God.

The love that the children of God should have towards Mary must be expressed in Faith, because She is the Mother of God.  Faith, according to the definition of Piccarreta: “is God, and God is Faith”.  Mary, the first true believer, lived the Faith that is God, (according to Piccarreta).

Mary will be the one who will contribute to the realization of God’s plan.  The heavenly Heiress of the Divine Will has transmitted this gift to all creatures that freely accept Her.  Mary is the Mother of God and at the same time Mother of all.  She does not resign herself to seeing her children deprived of the divine graces of which She herself is so richly endowed.  Therefore, She continuously prays and exhorts humans to not sin and to accept the Will of God which alone can lead humanity to peace.

Mary puts at the disposition of all, Her merits as Mother of God and Bride of the Holy Spirit, so that the Reign of the Divine Will might have dominion among men.  Here is what the Blessed Virgin said to Luisa at the dawn of the last century: “I will search among all nations, in every Diocese, among all religious orders, even door to door if necessary, until such time as all have returned to God”.

From the moment of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, began the movement of the grace of God to all of humanity.  This Child of God, having inherited the  Divine Will, offered to God each moment, every heartbeat, every thought, every breath in order to satisfy the creative Power of God, so much so that God was able to form in Her the greatest wonder of His Holiness, of  His Beauty and of His Grace.

In Mary, the kindness of God towards mankind, are realized; Mary became a Creature that belonged entirely to God, She Who would become the privileged Instrument of God Who would choose Her as the residence of His Son, the Word incarnate.  Mary, for Her part, binds to herself the entire human family, like members of Her Body.

The wonders of God fulfilled in this Creature are unheard of and not comprehensible to the human mind.

Mary, Mother of Mankind

 Mary, being the Mother of God, is endowed by God with all treasures possible for a created being; for this reason, Mary, is the only Creature that being the Mother of God, is honored on earth and in heaven.

She is the pride of humanity and of heaven.

 This Creature more celestial than human, clothes humanity with the mantle of Her Divine Heart.

In this celestial Creature one celebrates the Divine Will which for the first time and in a unique way is operative in a human creature.

Mary therefore becomes Queen and Lady for everyone: in Her breathing in Her movement one can contemplate all the actions of creation that like stars flood around Her, surround Her, adorn Her to such a degree as to make of Her the enchantment of the heavens.

One can say that Mary has the virtue that can transform human wretchedness into seas of love, of beauty, of power and of infinite wisdom and we can say that there is no corner of creation that is not touched by the love of this Creature.

Mary renders to Her Creator all the homage of human generations and creation becomes disposed to receive the divine life that She possesses.

This Mother is a continuous wonder, Her glory is unsurpassable because She possesses the Divine Will; Her heart loves us with the same Love of God and projects in the heavens the love of creatures purified by Her love.

Through the divine love that resides in Her, God cannot but love this Creature and through Her, all humanity is loved.

This beautiful Woman is so great that She continuously attracts the Heart of Her Creator; even of the Angels, Prophets and Saints become mute before such a wonder and greatness that even the heavens cannot contain it.

Mary, Bride of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the sea of eternal Love, in which the Blessed Virgin was conceived and is destined in time to become His Bride: The Elect among the chosen, Mother of God.

The Holy Spirit, surrounded this Creature with the immense sea of the Love of God, not only to defend her from every evil but in order to enrich Her continuously in virtue of the incarnation of the Word of God, enrich Her continuously with beauty with grace, with power and with wisdom, in order to render Her worthy to Conceive the Son of God, who was conceived in the center of the eternal Love of the Father.

In fact, it would not have been dignified for the Son of God to be conceived in the womb of a creature who was merely an immaculate virgin; a gift that God can bestow to all, but for the Conception of His Son He had to create in Her all His Glory and all His Splendor.

Mary, for Her part, having been so richly endowed by all the Divine Attributes, without fear flung herself towards God bringing Him the thanksgiving and the praise of all humanity.

Creation rejoiced because a Creature was giving back to God all the honor and the glory that sin had taken away; the powers of hell cried because This Creature was out of their power.

Mary, in placing at the feet of God, His Divine Will, achieved the most beautiful and heroic act that a Creature could achieve, and God elected Her Queen of Heaven and earth.

It must be made clear at this juncture that the first King of suffering and of anguish was Our Lord Jesus Christ, because of the sins of mankind which continuously offend Him; and being Man and God, He could enclose within Himself all possible pain mankind could inflict and thus have primacy over all things.

Thus all that happens in Mary, Her suffering, Her tears, Her prayers, Her adoration are non other than the reflections of all that Christ fulfilled by raising to the Father all the praise and the glory owed Him and which sin had taken away.

Being also Son of Mary, He called Her to participate in all His human and divine actions, which together were lifted up to the Eternal Father.

Thusly, Mary was uplifted by the merits of the Son, not only to honor Her, but also by the right due Her for being His Mother; the Heart of Mary participated in all the acts of Her Son which are sealed with a FIAT of resplendent light.

Mary became Queen of Heaven and earth, because Her actions were constantly intertwined with the Supreme Fiat of God, working through His Son, and She was filled with such Glory — as much as a human Creature could contain.  Mary reconnected with Christ the human will with the Divine Will.

The Lord will say to Luisa: “Dearest daughter, many times doing good, suffering without having My Will in your heart, these can be a pitiful bondage that degenerate into passions;  while only My Will gives true dominion, true virtue, true Glory, such as to transform the human into the Divine”.

The Stylus of God

According to Piccarreta, When God reveals to man great things He usually concentrates in a single creature all the Graces that His work possesses, so that all, as though from a spring, can help themselves to these gifts in the measure to which they are capable and according to their disposition.  Piccarreta adds that God gives limited Graces when fulfilling individual projects.  By contrast, when the works of God have to serve the general good, His graces are without limit.  Such was the case with regards to redemption: to be able to elevate a creature to become the Mother of God, He had to lift Her up so high as to implant in Her the same offspring as the Father’s fecundity.  In fact, like God, eternally generating the Son in his breast, so too, this same offspring as the Father’s fecundity flooded the Virgin of Nazareth, until the supporting framework of the Incarnation was laid down.  It is clear that the Blessed Virgin accepted freely this plan of God, and living in the Divine Will, without man’s intervention She conceived in her Virgin Womb the Son of God.

Thus it happened that the Father loved Her like a daughter, the Word loved Her as Mother and the Holy Spirit as Bride.  The Lord said to Luisa: “The Most Blessed Trinity had to give of Itself to this Divine Virgin, to be able to conceive Me, Son of God. My Holy Mother, could have never conceived Me without having in Her some offspring being of the human race, the Offspring of Eternal Fecundity gave the grace to Conceive me man; and given that the Offspring was Divine, at the same time I was conceived God.” (14 April 1923).  One can say that at the moment of Conception, the Holy Spirit and all that happened from eternity to the Most Holy Trinity are repeated once again in the Womb of the Heavenly Mother.

As one can see, the work is very great and incalculable, incomprehensible to the created mind, and since the work of Redemption had to be so great as to call forth all generations and for many centuries God wanted the prayers the sighs, the tears, the penance of all the patriarchs and the prophets and of all the peoples of the Old Testament in order to dispose them to receiving such a love that their minds could not comprehend in its entirety, God centered in the Virgin all those graces that were to be placed at the disposition of everyone.  And when everything was ready in the fullness of time, the Son of God came to live among men.

The Role of the Blessed Virgin and of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta in God’s Plan

Living in the Will of God is the Holiest of Holiness is not an equal grace to the other graces that God gave across the centuries to all the Saints and Martyrs.

This is a new era of grace that must serve everyone and it is necessary that all be centered in one creature like God did with His Blessed Mother.  To welcome redemption and predispose souls to this event, the promise of a Messiah was made.  Mankind while hoping in Him, would find its salvation and would return to its first origins as when created by God.  To the Church, Christ, the Word of God, taught the Our Father so that His voice might resound from one end of the earth to the other: “Our Father who art in Heaven”.  Jesus did not say My Father, but called him Father of mankind, so that His Will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven, this being the goal of Creation.

The Father could not but heed the prayer of the Son.  And as the people of antiquity found Salvation in the hope for a future Redeemer, likewise we, a new people could be worthy to be loved by the Father as children, if we accept to live in God’s Will and bring about on earth the advent of His Reign.  The entire Church, all the Saints and Martyrs pray and implore that God’s Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, because of this they become predisposed the advent of the Divine Will.

All the Saints and Martyrs of the Church, the Bride of Christ, have prayed that as with His Holy Mother, all the gifts and graces the Reign of God’s Will promises, be poured in another creature so that all might attain the Holy Will and enter into this most holy Reign.

Priestly Authority is Necessary to Bring about the Reign of the Divine Will

 The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta, asks the Lord the grace to be exempted from priestly authority in order to return to her daily activities like all other creatures.

Her concern was rooted in the principle of love as she did not want to bother her ministers, who daily needed to come free her from the rigid state.

The Lord tutors her on this point and has her understand that the service they do for her is unique and particular, that it is a grandiose work, not comprehensible to the human mind, becoming for this reason, necessary that the chosen individual be cared for by the priestly authorities.

The work of Redemption, which is God’s greatest work, to accomplish it He chose a creature endowing her with all possible gifts, so that she might serve as the Mother of God.

To care for these great treasures of God, this creature, when conceived, became adorned by the resplendent light of the Holy Trinity.

And the Most Holy Trinity took upon itself the charge of guiding her in all things.

When the Word of God was conceived in her virgin womb, being Christ, the True, the Only, the Head, the

First of all priests, He Himself took on the charge of caring for her and direct her in all things.  Upon His death, He placed her in the care of another priest, his favorite apostle, John.  Because Mary was so privileged, possessing all possible graces, unique in the mind of God, unique in history, the Lord wanted to never to leave Her without the assistance of priestly authority until her dying breath.  This had never been provided to any other creature because none had ever had such fullness of grace therefore such custody had not been necessary.

Only one other creature has been chosen in our time, Luisa Piccarreta.

These are the words the Lord said to her: “You too are unique in my mind, you will also be unique in history, there will be no other like you, before or after you, to whom I will be compelled out of necessity, to give the assistance of my ministers.  Having chosen to deposit in you holiness, the effects, the attitude of My Supreme Will, it was fitting, just, proper, for the very sanctity intrinsic in My Will, that one of my ministers should assist you and be the first trustee of the gifts that my Will holds, in order to let it flow from your bosom to the entire body of the church”

It is clear that the priestly authority must have dominion over the life of Piccarreta, since it needs not carry out none other than this.

Luisa in receiving the gift of the Divine Will, must communicate to the ministers  all her treasures  and these in turn must be used until such time as the reign of the Divine Will.  “May your will be done” is done in heaven and on earth.

The Lord adds and says that he wanted to enrich her with as many gifts to make her capable of receiving the gift of the Divine Will, and says to have taken from her the seeds of corruption.  He has as purified her soul, has purified her human nature so that she no longer feels the things of this earth, she belongs entirely to God.

In another passage the Lord says: “You must know that the execution of My Will is a work so great that it enters into God’s plan and I want that it be known by everyone for what it holds so that all will value it and desire it”

The Most Blessed Trinity thrice has decided to act “ad extra”.

The first was in Creation, when there was no need of created beings to bring it about.

The second was in Redemption, and the Lord chose the collaboration of a woman, the most holy, the most beautiful woman who became the Mother of God, channel and instrument of God until such time as the work of redemption should come to pass.

The third is the fulfillment of God’s Will; that His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  This is the seal of the work of Creation and of Redemption, these are divine decrees that must come to full completion, and God makes use of another woman to put these things in order.

Thus says the Lord to Luisa: “I have made of you the same as I made of My Mother putting you in the care of the priestly authority of my Church, so that the “Fiat Voluntas Tua” would come to be.  I have put you in the care of one of my ministers, until such time as you  will bear witness to him all that which I manifest to you about my Divine Will, all the gifts that mankind can have and how the  paternal goodness of God wants to open another era of grace”.

As the Lord did unto His Blessed Mother in whom He placed as in a sanctuary all the laws, all the precepts, all the doctrines that Holy Mother Church was meant to possess.

The Lord said these words: “My Mother, faithful as she was, jealous even of one of my words, poured forth and bore witnessed to everything for my favorite disciple John, who transmitted it to the entire Church, and My Mother had primacy over the entire Church”.

You, Luisa, be faithful in imitation of My Great Mother, until such time as this New and great event is realized in the Church.

The Blessed Virgin and Luisa Piccarreta

It is clear to those who read the writings of Piccarreta, with regard to the roles that the two Virgins have in God’s plan, that one cannot draw comparisons. Nor can they be placed at the same plane.

Mary Blessed Virgin Mother of God enters fully into the public revelation of God as is evident from the Gospels.

Mary is the Mother of God; the “TEOTOCOS” that enters into the greatest mystery of God, the Incarnation, and is for this reason an object of Faith, in fact, no one can deny her divine motherhood which is an article of Faith.

In fact if someone should dare to deny Her Divine Motherhood he would automatically place himself outside the fold of the Church.

Mary remains always the Bride of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Christ True God and True Man, and Mother of the Church.

As for Luisa Piccarreta, even if the plan of God being realized is grandiose, this is only the object of di private revelations.  Every believer is free to believe or not to believe.  And while the Church does give a certain degree of credit to private revelations, the believer can choose to accept them or not.

Luisa was conscious of her non binding role, so much so that she insists upon the free acceptance of her role.  In fact Luisa said the following:  “If the Church says that all that I have written is false, you must regard it as false and burn everything; if she says that my life and my person are a fraud, you must consider it as such, and do that which the Church orders you to do.  The Church is our mother, a benevolent and merciful mother which even if she seems to punish us, she always express her great love towards everyone and you must always love her, because she is the great sign of God, and the world cannot save itself without Her. (from the notes of Rosaria Bucci ).  Everything is officially confirmed by her submission to the decree of the Holy See of July 13, 1938.

Luisa is therefore a Catholic woman, most devoted daughter of the \and it is impossible to think of her outside the realm of priestly Authority.

FIAT

Luisa Piccarreta speaks of the Trinity with impressive clarity as though she had completed lengthy studies on this the greatest mystery of Christianity.

What follows is an excerpt Piccarreta wrote May 14, 1924:  “My daughter (Jesus is speaking) the first act of the Three Divine Persons is the perfect accord of Our Will, and Our Will is so unified that one cannot discern which is the Will of the One or the Other; so much so that even if our three Persons are distinct, because we are three, the Will is one and this produces a continual act of perfect adoration among the Divine Persons; one adores the other.  This accord of Will produces equality of sanctity, of light, of goodness, of beauty, of power, of love and establishes in us the true reign of order and of peace which in turn gives us immense joy and happiness and infinite beatification”.

 

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