Volume One-Study/Formation
VOLUME 1-Study # 1
Detachment from people.
The Divine Master began and set His hands to the work of detaching my heart from all creatures, and with an interior voice He said to me:
“I am the only One who deserves to be loved.
Look, if you do not remove this little world that surrounds you—that is, thoughts of creatures and imaginings—I cannot freely enter your heart. This murmur in your mind is an obstacle*:
• to letting you hear my voice more clearly,
• to pouring mygraces into you, and
• to making you truly fall in love with Me.
Promise Me to be entirely Mine and I Myself will set My hands to the work. You are right that you can do nothing, but do not fear; I will do everything. Give Me your will, and that is enough for Me.”
And this happened more frequently during Communion; and I promised to be entirely His, asked His forgiveness if until then I had not been so, told Him that I truly wanted to love Him, and begged Him never again to leave me alone without Him.
And the voice continued:
“No, no; I will stay with you to observe all your actions, your movements, and your desires.”
And all day long I felt Him upon me; He reproved me for everything. For example, if I spent more time chatting with the family about indifferent or unnecessary things, the interior voice would say to me:
“These conversations fill your mind with things that do not belong to Me; they surround your heart with dust, so that my grace is felt as weak in you, no longer alive. Ah! imitate Me when I was in the house of Nazareth: my mind was occupied with nothing other than the glory of my Father and the salvation of souls; my mouth spoke nothing but holy conversation; with my words I sought to repair the offenses against my Father, to dart hearts and draw them to my love—first of all my Mother and Saint Joseph. In a word, everything spoke of God, everything was done for God, and everything referred to Him. Why can you not do the same?”
I was left mute and utterly confused, and then I tried to remain alone as much as possible. I confessed my weakness to Him and asked for help and grace to do what He wanted, for by myself I knew how to do nothing but evil.
Suggestions:
Alejandra Acuña
• Reread, reflecting on each phrase—for example, the first one: “I am the only one who deserves to be loved.” Reflect on the immense Divine love for each person: He is the only One who has loved us even before we were conceived; He created everything for you, preserved it; He redeemed you, etc. Then continue with the next phrase: “if you do not remove this little world… thoughts… imaginations…” Reflect on it and try to exercise greater control over our thoughts and imaginations… etc.
• Speak with Jesus—like Luisa—making good resolutions regarding thoughts, imaginations, and conversations that are unnecessary, entrusting everything to Him, giving Him your will, asking for His help…
• During the day, make the effort to remove useless thoughts and words and replace them with the thought of Jesus; to give Him your will and your thoughts, to love Him, to thank Him, to pray for others, etc.
• Imagine yourself living in Nazareth with the Holy Family; reflect on how They carried out Their actions, how They offered them; model my own actions after Theirs, perform them, and offer them united with Theirs.
Way of Loving People in God.- Study # 2
(Vol. 1)
In the previous passage of Volume 1, Jesus taught us how to detach ourselves from all creatures and to focus our heart and our love solely on Him (“you shall love God with all your being and above all things”). Now, in this passage, He teaches us how to love our neighbor in an ordered and supernatural way – by Him, with Him, and in Him (“…and you shall love your neighbor…”)
Luisa writes:
“One morning, after Communion, my Beloved Jesus gave me a light so clear about the great love He had for me, and about the fickleness and inconstancy of creatures, that my heart was so convinced as to be incapable, from that time on, of loving anyone (in the human way).
He taught me how to love people without detaching myself from Him – that is, by looking at creatures as images of God, in such a way that:
- if I received good from creatures, I was to think that God alone was the prime author of that good and that He had used the creature in order to send it to me; so my heart would be bound more to God.
- If then I received mortifications, I was to look at them also as instruments in the hands of God for my sanctification; so my heart would not be resentful of my neighbor.
- -In this way, it happened that I would look at all creatures in God.
- -Whatever defect I might see in them, I would never lose esteem for them.
- If they mocked me, I felt obliged, thinking that they were allowing me to make more gains for my soul;
- if they praised me, I received these praises with contempt, saying: ‘Today this, tomorrow they may hate me’, considering their inconstancy.
In sum, my heart acquired such freedom, that I myself cannot explain it.
Suggestions:
Alejandra Acuña
* Reread slowly, meditating on each phrase in order to understand it, and ask God for the grace to love all our neighbors in this way, to see them as His image, as a means for our purification and sanctification, in His hands.
* Make the resolution to actually live this out in daily life, especially with those who are more difficult for us.
* Pray, entrust to God, and ask graces for all people: those who have done us good and those who have caused us suffering. By carrying out these interior exercises daily, not only will we learn to love our neighbor according to God’s Will and as Jesus loves us, but it will also gradually heal the wounds we may carry within us…
VOLUME 1, Study #3
CORRESPONDENCE TO GRACE
• Inner purification and illumination
• Pleasing God alone. Removing “human respect”
• God has a great personal plan for each person
• Correspondence to Grace
• The core of the spiritual life in general, and even more so in the Divine Will: to be a perfect image of Jesus, embracing His entire life
• Jesus teaches us gradually, little by little
• Spiritual discipline
• Humility: recognizing that I can do nothing by myself. Example: a baby
• Removing spiritual pride, very subtle, common, and dangerous
Correspondence of Grace
When the Divine Master freed me from the external world, then He put His hand into purifying my interior, and through an interior voice He told me: “Now we are alone – there is no one left who may disturb us. Aren’t you happier now than before, when you had to content many upon many? You see, it is easier to content one alone. You must consider as if you and I were alone in the world; promise Me to be faithful, and I will pour such and so many graces into you, that you yourself will be amazed."
Then He continued, telling me:
“I have made great designs upon you, as long as you correspond to Me – I want to make of you a perfect image of Me, beginning from the moment I was born up to my death. I Myself will tea…
[6:59 PM, 1/30/2026] Mary Zirkle: Correspondence
(Vol. 2: August 2, 1899)
“See how many graces I was to pour upon the creatures, but since I find no correspondence, I am forced to retain them within Myself; even more, they make Me change them into chastisement.
Be careful, you, oh my daughter, to correspond to Me in the so many graces I am pouring into you, because correspondence is the open door to let Me enter into the heart and form in it my dwelling. Correspondence is like that good welcome, that esteem, which is used with people when they come to visit us, in such a way that, drawn by that respect, by those affable manners used with them, they are forced to come again, and reach the point of not being able to detach themselves. Everything is in corresponding to Me, and according to how souls correspond to Me and treat Me on earth, so will I behave with them in Heaven. Making them find the doors open, I will invite the whole Celestial Court to welcome them, and I will place them on the most sublime throne; but it will be all the opposite for those who do not correspond to Me.”
VOLUME 1 Study #4
Humility versus pride
I don’t remember for sure, but it seems to me that He told me that the first thing which was necessary in order to purify the interior of my heart, was the annihilation of myself – that is, humility. And He continued, telling me:
“See, so that I may pour my graces into your heart, I really want to make you understand that by yourself you can do nothing. I am very much wary of those souls who attribute what they do to themselves, wanting to make of my graces as many thefts.
On the other hand, with those who know themselves, I am generous in pouring my graces in torrents. Knowing very well
* that they can attribute nothing to themselves,
* they are grateful to Me,
* they hold it in that esteem which befits it,
* and they live with the continuous fear that, if they do not correspond to Me, I may take away from them that which I gave, knowing that it is not something of their own.
All the opposite in the hearts which reek of pride. I cannot even enter into their hearts because they are so swollen with themselves that there is no space in which to put Myself. The miserable ones take my graces into no account, and they go from fall to fall, up to their ruin.
Therefore, on this day I want you to make continuous acts of humility; I want you to be like a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, who can move neither a foot to take a step, nor a hand to work, but expects everything from his mother. In the same way, you will stay close to Me like a baby, always praying Me to assist you, to help you; always confessing to Me your nothingness – in sum, expecting everything from Me.”
I tried to do as much as I could to content Him – I would make myself smaller, I would annihilate myself, and sometimes I reached the point of feeling my being as almost undone, in such a way that I could not work, nor take one step, or even one breath if He did not sustain me.
Suggestions:
Alejandra Acuña
* Meditate on the harm caused by pride. Ask God for light to recognize where I am proud, so as to remove it.
* Meditate on attitudes of humility before God; ask Jesus for help to practice them and to be like that baby.
* Invite Jesus to act in me and together with me, with His Most Holy Will in everything.
Review of Volume 1 lesson 5
To act uprightly in everything: only to please God.
(Vol. 1)
“I want you to be always upright in your operating – with one eye look at Me, and with the other eye look at what you are doing. I want creatures to disappear from you completely. If you receive a command, *do not look at the people, no – but you must think that I Myself want you to do what you are being commanded. So, with your eye fixed in Me,
* you will not judge anyone,
* you will not look at whether the thing is painful or enjoyable – whether you can do it or not. Closing your eyes to all this, you will open them to look at Me alone; you will take Me together with you, thinking that my gaze is fixed on you, and you will say to Me: ‘Lord, for You alone I do this; for You alone I want to work– no longer a slave of the creatures.’
So, if you walk, if you work, if you speak – in anything you do, your only aim must be that of pleasing Me alone. Oh! how many defects you will avoid, if you do this.”
Other times, He would say to me: “I also want that, if people mortify you, insult you, contradict you, you keep your gaze fixed in Me, thinking that from my own lips I am saying to you:
‘Daughter, I Myself am the One who wants you to suffer this - not the creatures. Remove your gaze from them; but you and I, always – all others you must destroy. See, I want to render you beautiful by means of these sufferings; I want to enrich you with merits, work your soul, render you similar to Me.
You will give it to Me as a gift, you will thank Me affectionately, and will be grateful to those people who give you the occasion to suffer, repaying them with some benefit.
By doing this, you will walk as upright before Me; nothing will ever again give you restlessness, and you will always enjoy peace.”
Suggestions:
• Reread reflectively and highlight the different teachings:
• See in everything the Will of God for our good.
• Fix our attention on Jesus and make Him the center and purpose of our life and of each of our acts.
• Also pay attention to “what we are doing,” that is, to fulfilling our duties of state and as Catholics as best as possible (this is doing the Will of God).
• Have the right intention of pleasing Jesus in every act, of offering it to Him as a gift, of loving Him, of thanking Him, and of praying for our neighbor. And to do it in union with Jesus and in His Divine Will.
• _Keep present the value and the beneficial effects of suffering lived according to these teachings and in the Divine Will.
• Apply the divine teachings in our life and, asking Jesus for help, practice them throughout the day.
Volume1-Lesson #6 Review
Luisa Piccarreta
To sacrifice or mortify one’s own will in order to make it one with the Divine Will.
“I want”, He said to me, “that all your things, even the necessary ones, be done in a spirit of sacrifice. See, your works cannot be recognized by Me as mine, if they do not have the imprint of mortification. Just as a coin is not recognized by the peoples if it does not carry on itself the image of their king – even more, it is despised and neglected - the same with your works: if they do not have the graft with my cross, they cannot have any value. See, now it is not about destroying the creatures, but yourself – making you die in order to live only in Me and of my own life. It is true that it will cost you more than what you have done; but pluck up courage, do not fear – it is not you who will do it, but I Myself will operate in you…
“The first thing I want you to mortify is your will. That ‘self’ must be destroyed in you; I want you to keep it sacrificed as victim before Me, so that your will and Mine may become one. Aren’t you happy?”
‘Yes, Lord, but give me the grace, for I see that by myself I can do nothing.’ And He continued, telling me: “Yes, I Myself will contradict you in everything, and occasionally by means of creatures.”
Sugestions
Alejandra Acuña
• Reread this while speaking with Jesus, telling Him that you want to do it this way—learning to mortify or put to death your will in order to make it one with His and give it life in your acts, even in the smallest ones…
• In everything that does not turn out according to your will or your plan, see Jesus Himself who wants you to sacrifice your will to Him; set the intention of uniting it to His and living it in the Divine Will.
VOLUME 1 Lesson #7 Review
Practical Examples of Mortification of One’s Own Will
“The first thing I want you to mortify is your will…
And so it happened. For example,
* if in the morning I woke up and did not get up immediately, the interior voice would tell me: “You rest, while I had no other bed but the cross. Hurry up, hurry up – not so much satisfaction.”
* If I walked and my sight would run a little farther, immediately He would reprimand me: “I do not want this. Do not let your sight move away from you but the length of one step, so that you won’t trip.”
* If I was in the countryside and I saw flowers and trees, He would say to me: “I have created everything for love of you, and you, deprive your sight of this delight for love of Me.”
* Even in the most innocent and holy things, as for example the cloths for the altars, the processions, He would say to me: “You must take no other pleasure but in Me alone.”
* If I was sitting while working, He would say to me: “You are too comfortable; don’t you remember that my life was a continuous suffering – and you? And you?” In order to content Him, I would immediately shift to half of the chair, leaving the other half empty; and sometimes, jokingly, I said to Him: ‘See oh Lord, half the chair is empty – come and sit near me.’ Sometimes it seemed He would content me, and I felt such delight that I myself cannot express it.
* Sometimes, then, while I was working a little slowly and listlessly, He would say to Me: “Hurry up, help yourself, for in the time you gain by helping yourself you will come and be with Me in prayer.” Sometimes, He Himself would assign to me how much work I was supposed to do. Then I would pray Him to come and help me. “Yes, yes”, He would answer me, “we will do it together, so that when you have finished, we will be more free.” And it would happen that in one hour or two I did what I was supposed to do during the whole day. Then I would go to pray, and He gave me much light and told me many things, such that it would be too long if I wanted to say them all.
- I remember that while I was alone, working, I noticed that the thread was not enough to finish that work, and that I would need to go to my family in order to get some. So I turned to Him and I said: ‘What is the purpose of having helped me, my Beloved? As I see that I need to go to my family, I may find people who may prevent me from coming back here, and this time our conversation will come to nothing.’ “What, what?”, He said to me, “Don’t you have faith?” ‘Yes.’ “Well then, do not fear, for I will make you complete everything.” And so it happened; and then I would start to pray.
- If then, at lunch time, I ate something tasty, immediately He would reprimand me interiorly, saying: “Have you perhaps forgotten that I had no other taste but suffering for love of you? And that you must have no other taste but mortifying yourself for love of Me? Leave it aside, and eat that which you like the least.” And immediately I would take it and bring it to the maid, or I would say that I didn’t want it any more; and many times I remained almost on an empty stomach. However, when I would go to pray, I would receive so much strength and feel so satiated, that I would feel nausea for everything.
- Other times, then, in order to contradict me, if I did not feel like eating, He would say to me: “I want you to eat for love of Me, and as the food unites with the body, pray to Me that my love may unite with your soul; and everything will be sanctified.”
⸻
Suggestions:
• Pay attention to mortifying my will in small things throughout the day, thinking that Jesus sees each time I do it and takes it into account.
• Each time, with the right intention of doing it out of love for my suffering and most loving Jesus, invoking His Divine Will.
VOLUME 1 Review #8
Spiritual trials and the reason for these trials.
…I remember that many times, after Communion, He said to me:
“You will not be able to truly resemble Me other than by means of sufferings. Up until now I have been together with you; now I want to leave you alone a little bit, without letting Myself be felt. See, up to now I have led you by the hand, instructing you and correcting you in everything, and you have done nothing but follow Me. Now I want you to do it by yourself. However, be more attentive than before, thinking that my gaze is fixed on you, though I do not let Myself be heard; and that when I return to make Myself heard, I will come either to reward you, if you have been faithful to Me, or to chastise you, if you have been ungrateful to Me.”
I would be so frightened and terrified.
Upon such intimation, I would say to Him:
‘Lord, my All and my Life, how can I survive without You - who will give me the strength? How can this be? After You have made me leave everything, so much so that I feel as if no one existed for me - You want to leave me alone and abandoned. Have You perhaps forgotten how bad I am, and that without You I can do nothing?’ And because of this objection, assuming a more serious look, He would add:
“The reason is that I want you to understand well who you are. See, I do this for your good; do not be saddened – I want to prepare your heart to receive the graces which I have designed for you. Up until now I have assisted you sensibly; now, less sensibly – I will make you touch your nothingness with your own hand; I will fuse you thoroughly in profound humility, in order to be able to build most high walls upon you. So, instead of afflicting yourself, you should rejoice and thank Me, because the more quickly I make you cross the stormy sea, the sooner you will reach the port of safety; the harder the trials to which I will submit you, the greater the graces I will give you. Courage then, courage, and I will come back soon.” And in saying this, He seemed to bless me, and then He would leave.
Who can say the pain I felt - the void He left in my interior, the bitter tears I shed? But I would resign myself to His Holy Will. It seemed that from afar I would kiss His hand which had blessed me, saying to Him: ‘Good-bye, oh Holy Spouse, good-bye.’
I felt as if everything was over for me, because I had Him alone, and since He was missing, no other consolation was left to me, but everything would convert into most bitter pains…
Suggestions:
Reflect on why God allows trials in your life: for your good, to ground you in deep humility, and to dispose you for greater graces.
Resolve to behave in trials as Jesus teaches: with total trust in Him and acceptance of His Will, because they are for your good; being very attentive and mindful that He sees you; with profound humility; without becoming sad but rather trying to rejoice; hoping with certainty for greater graces; thanking Him; and remaining faithful to Him. 🙏
VOLUME 1 Review #9
Instructions of Jesus for when there is difficulty in prayer
After I would spend those days in that state described above, especially if I had been faithful to Him, I would feel Him come back within me. He spoke to me more clearly, (…) I would hug Him, I would clasp Him to myself, and say to Him:
‘Beloved Good, see how bitter our separation has been for me.’
And He would say to me:
‘What you have gone through is nothing yet – prepare yourself for harder trials. This is why I have come – to dispose your heart and to fortify it. Now you will tell me everything you have gone through – your doubts and fears, all of your difficulties, that I may teach you how to conduct yourself during my absence.”
So I would make Him the narration of my pains, telling Him:
‘Lord, You see, without You I was unable to do anything good.
The meditation – I did it all distracted, ugly; so much so that I would not have the courage to offer it to You.
At Communion I was unable to stay there for hours, as when I could feel You; I saw myself alone, I had no one with whom to converse, I felt completely empty. The pain of your absence made me experience mortal agonies; my nature wanted to hurry up so as to escape that pain; more so, since it seemed to me that I would do nothing but waste time, with the fear that, in coming back, You might chastise me because I had not been faithful. So I didn’t know what to do.
And then, the pain that You are continuously offended, and of not knowing when to do, as You taught me before, those acts of reparation, those visits to the Most Holy Sacrament for the different offenses You receive.
Tell me a little bit, then, what should I have done?’
And He, benignly, instructing me, would say:
1 – “You were wrong in being so disturbed. Don’t you know that I am Spirit of Peace, and the first thing I recommend is that you do not perturb the peace of the heart?
When in prayer you are not able to recollect yourself, I do not want you to think of this or that – of how it is and how it is not – because by doing so, you yourself call the distraction. Instead, when you find yourself in that state, the first thing is to humble yourself, confessing yourself as deserving of those pains, placing yourself in the arms of the executioner, like a humble little lamb that, while being killed, licks his hand. So you - while seeing yourself beaten, disheartened, alone,
* you will resign yourself to my holy dispositions,
* you will thank Me wholeheartedly,
* you will kiss that hand of mine that strikes you, recognizing yourself unworthy of those pains.
* Then, you will offer to Me those bitternesses, anguishes, tediums, praying Me to accept them as a sacrifice of praise, of satisfaction for your sins, of reparation for the offenses that they give Me.
By doing so, your prayer will ascend before my throne as most fragrant incense; it will wound my Heart, and you will draw new graces and new charisms upon yourself.
In seeing you humble and resigned, all sunken into your nothingness, the devil will not have the strength to get close.
And here is how, where you thought you were losing, you will make great gains.”
VOLUME 1 Lesson 10
How to strengthen yourself so as not to fall into temptation and not to have doubts about whether you offended God in temptation.
Jesus Christ taught me that the most effective means so that the soul would remain free of any vain apprehension, of any doubt, of any fear, was to protest before Heaven, the earth and the very demons, that she does not want to offend God, even at the cost of her life, and that she does not want to consent to any temptation of the devil. And this,
- as soon as the soul feels the coming of the temptation,
- in the act of the battle, if she can, and -
- as she begins to feel free - of the temptation,
- and also during the course of the day.
By doing this, the soul will not waste time in thinking about whether she has consented or not, because the mere memory of the protest will already give her calm; and if the devil tries to disturb her, she will be able to answer that if she had the intention of offending God, she would not have protested the opposite. In this way, she will remain free of any fear.
The other way He taught me in casting away temptations was the following:
* if they tempted me to suicide, I was to answer: ‘You have no permission from God; on the contrary, to your annoyance I want to live, so as to be able to love my God more.’
* If then they beat me and hit me, I was to humble myself, kneel and thank my God, because this was happening as a penance for my sins; not only this, but to offer everything as acts of reparation for all the offenses against God that were given in the world.
Finally, after about one and a half years of this fight, the cruelties of the demons ceased, and a whole new life began, although the demons did not stop molesting me from time to time. However, it was not so frequent, the battle was not so fierce, and I became used to despising them.
Suggestion:
• I will practice wholeheartedly and with complete sincerity the continual promise to God not to offend Him, at the cost of any effort or sacrifice.
• If I realize that at some point I am not fully convinced of having the firm purpose not to commit a certain sin, I will ask God for His help to reach that point and do everything in my power to achieve it: meditate on how evil sin is, on the good things it deprives me of, on the offense I commit against God who loves me so much, on how much I make Jesus suffer, on how I degrade my dignity as a child of God… Pray more, go to confession as soon as I fall, practice mortification precisely in what leads me to sin, make some sacrifice as penance, etc. With God’s help and by striving, I can succeed in rejecting all sin and have the gift and joy of living in His Grace, His Love, and united with Him continually, without interruption.