A Manual for Priests
Instructing the laity
on the
Gift of Living in the Divine
Will
Rev. J.L. Iannuzzi, STD,
Ph.D.
Nota bene: The following instructions are a synopsis of the
approved doctoral dissertation of the Pontifical University of Rome authorized
by the Holy See, which bears the seals of ecclesiastical approval. The
dissertation by Rev. Joseph L. Iannuzzi, STD is entitled, “Living in the
Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta – an inquiry into the early
ecumenical councils, and patristic, scholastic and contemporary theology” and
is available for purchase online. 1
1 - Public
and Private Revelation
The Catholic
Catechism states the following: “No new public revelation is to be expected
before the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet even if Revelation is
already complete, it had not been completely explicit; it remains for Christian
faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the
centuries” (CCC, 66).
In this
article one discovers the progressive disclosure (explication) of public
revelation. If, on the one hand, this article relates that Jesus revealed to us
everything we need for salvation and no new “public” revelation (the Deposit of
Faith) is to be expected, on the other hand, it affirms that not everything in
the public revelation of Christ was revealed to us “explicitly”! Concerning
Jesus’ unexplicated doctrines, I recall Jesus’ words to his disciples before
departing from this world: “I still have many things to say to you, but you
cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will teach you all
the truth” (Jn. 16:12).
Church
documents of the past 2,000 years further testify to the continuing, ongoing
disclosure of public revelation, as they never state that revelation has
“ended” with Christ, but rather that Christ’s public revelation is “complete.”
Unfortunately the 19th-century employment of the word “end” in actual fact is a
very unfortunate rendering of the Latin compleo, which the Church
employs to describe Christ’s public revelation. In fact, compleo doesn’t
signify “end” at all, but instead it means the foundation of revelation that in
Christ is constituted once and for all, but revelation occurs through the
official teaching voice of the Church (Magisterium) as well as through the
office of prophet (through whom the Church today receives private revelations)
whom St. Paul lists immediately after the office of apostle: “God has appointed
in his Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, fourth
miracles…” (1 Cor. 12:28). 2
This is one of
the many reasons why the Church’s “private” revelations – while not essential
to our salvation, nevertheless valuable for our sanctification – are of
importance today, as they constitute the continuing and ongoing unfolding of
Christ’s “public” revelation. Their importance is witnessed in the spiritual
consequences that would have ensued if the Church ignored them: Had the Church
ignored the private revelations of St. Margaret Mary we would neither have
today’s promise of eternal salvation through the observance of the first 9
Friday’s of each month nor the Feast of the Sacred Heart; had it ignored the
private revelations of St. Faustina we would not have the Feast of Divine Mercy
that grants a total remission of all sin and punishment; had it ignored the
private revelations of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta we would not have
God’s greatest gift to the Church, i.e., Living in the Divine Will that
bequeaths to the soul on earth the same glory and greater merit than the saints
in heaven.
In sum, while
“public” revelation refers to that period of the Church when Christ proclaimed
the Good News of salvation of which the apostles bore written testimony, and
that is forever constituted and normatively witnessed in Scripture, “private”
revelations explicate public revelation with a new message from Christ to the
churches today that is rooted in Tradition. The renowned theologians Josef
Cardinal Ratzinger, Urs von Balthasar, René Laurentin and Karl Rahner agree
that revelation “never ends”, and that with Christ and the apostles such
revelation is “materially” fulfilled in him and normatively transmitted by the
apostles in the form of Scripture. However, since with the course of the
centuries there are new times and circumstances, and God continues to reveal
himself to his Church in every age, revelation that was materially fulfilled
with Christ always requires a new “form”, and this form is often the written
testimony of many of today’s prophets, such as Luisa. 3
2 – Who is
Luisa Piccarreta?
2.1 – Life
April 23,
1865: Luisa’s birth and Baptism on Sunday «in albis» (exactly 130 years
later Pope John Paul II proclaimed this day «Divine Mercy Sunday»).
April 23,
1874: At the age of 9 on Sunday «in albis» Luisa receives her first
Communion and Confirmation. She begins to hear Jesus’ voice.
1878: At the
age of 13, Luisa receives her first vision of Jesus carrying the Cross who
implores her, «Soul, help Me»!
1881: At the
age of 16, Luisa accepts the state of victimhood and is intermittently confined
to bed.
1882: At the
age of 17, Luisa composes the Christmas Novena that she would recite every year
for the rest of her life.
November,
1887: At the age of 22 Luisa is definitively confined to bed.
October 16,
1888: At the age of 23 Luisa experiences her first nuptial of spiritual
marriage on earth.
September 7,
1889: At the age of 24 Luisa experiences her second nuptial of spiritual
marriage in heaven, i.e., the gift of Living in the Divine Will in which Jesus
takes possession of Luisa’s heart. Several days later the Trinity confirms
Luisa and establishes in her heart its divine indwelling.
Undated Entry:
Luisa experiences her third nuptial, the spiritual marriage of the Cross.
February 28,
1899: At the age of 33 in obedience to her confessor Luisa begins to write.
November 16,
1900: At the age of 35 Luisa experiences her fourth nuptial in which she takes
possession of Jesus’ heart, receives three divine breathes, and embarks on
becoming centered in the Divine Will and on possessing it entirely and
completely.
November 12,
1925: Pope Pius XI institutes the Feast of Christ the King.
October 7,
1928: At the age of 63 Luisa moves into the Sisters of the Divine Zeal
Orphanage in Corato. 4
August 31,
1938: Three of Luisa’s works are placed on the Index of Prohibited Books,
beside those of Faustina Kowalska and Antonio Rosmini – all of which were
eventually rehabilitated by the Church.
October 7,
1938: At the age of 73 Luisa leaves the Sisters of the Divine Zeal Orphanage.
Rev. Benedetto Calvi relocates Luisa to Via Magdalena where she would spend her
final years.
December 28, 1938:
Luisa’s writes her last volume (the 36th volume).
March 4, 1947:
After a short bout with pneumonia — the only diagnosable illness of her life —
Luisa Piccarreta dies.
November 20,
1994: Opening of Luisa’s Cause for Beatification; she receives the title
Servant of God.
October 29,
2005: Luisa’s Cause of Beatification concludes its diocesan iter.
2.2 – Doctrine
2.2.1 – The 3
Fiats of Creation, Redemption & Sanctification: While each of the three
divine Persons are distinct but inseparable, many theologians including
Augustine, maintain that God’s ad extra works may be appropriated to
each Person. In Luisa’s text this appropriation attributes to God the Father
the work of creation, to God the Son the work of Redemption, and to God the
Holy Spirit the work of sanctification.
2.2.2 – The 3
modes of prayer and action: In light of John of the Cross’s tripartition of the
three stages of mystical union with God, i.e., purgation, illumination and
unification, and Teresa of Avila’s 7 interior mansions, mystical theologians
reveal two modes of praying and acting: The human mode (modo humano) and
divine mode (modo divino). The human mode corresponds to John’s stage of
purgation stage and Teresa’s first 3 mansions. The divine mode corresponds to
John’s illumination and unification stages, and Teresa’s 4-7 mansions. Until
the gift of Living in the Divine Will was freely actualized by God in the
Church, no mention was made of an eternal mode, that is, until Luisa’s approved
writings revealed that the gift of Living in the Divine Will admits the human
being to God’s eternal mode, whereby God absorbs and elevates the 5 soul’s
prayers and actions to continuously participate in the Trinity’s one eternal
operation. Because God’s Triune operation is eternal, and therefore transcends
time and space, its elevation of the soul’s acts empower them to transcend time
and space and to multilocate, concomitantly impacting all creatures of the
past, present and future, rational and irrational. By this means, to the soul
is restored the gift that Adam and Eve, and Jesus and Mary possessed, and that
restores to it the office of crown of all creation. Similar to Daniel’s chapter
3.57ff and David’s Psalm 148, whose prayers in the divine mode impacted
creatures of their time, Luisa’s “rounds” throughout creation provide a method
of praying in the eternal mode that impacts creatures of all time.
2.2.3 – A new
holiness: While to Luisa Jesus reveals that the eternal mode of holiness is a
new sanctity that surpasses all other forms of sanctity, this affirmation
requires qualification. The mystical life in many respects is a subjectively
experiential phenomenon, and it is often beyond our ken to objectively
determine the greatness of one individual’s sanctity, much less compare one
sanctity to another. In point of fact, Jesus reassures Luisa that the gift of
Living in his Divine Will is not so much a call to personal sanctity, as it is
a call to sanctify all things for the realization of his kingdom. While it is
futile therefore to make comparisons between this or that sanctity, it is safe
to assert that one form of sanctity may be greater than another when its
greatness is determined by the intrinsic nature of the gift, and not by the
recipient’s faithful correspondence to whatever grace God may wish to grant it,
which correspondence God alone beholds.
2.2.4 –
Difference between “doing” and “living” in the Divine Will: In considering the
divine and eternal modes of prayer and action, Jesus reveals to Luisa the
expressions, “doing the Divine Will” to signify the former, and “Living in the
Divine Will” to signify the latter. He affirms that “Living in the Divine Will”
is the model that is “closest to the blessed in heaven” and as distant from
“doing the Divine Will” “as that of heaven from earth”. The following analogy
depicts these two modes: The divine mode of prayer is that of a saintly person
on earth who wishes to pray for the deceased souls in a cemetery. To do so, he
must walk from one tomb stone to another to see who it is he is to pray for and
then pray for that soul, one soul at a time. The eternal mode of prayer is that
of one who, 6 in wishing to pray for the souls in a cemetery, is
taken above in a plane and beholds all souls in one bird’s-eye-view to pray for
all concomitantly. Living in the Divine Will is to invite God’s one eternal
operation into our finite prayers and actions, who bequeaths to them an eternal
quality, whereby they impact all souls of the past, present and future
concomitantly.
2.2.5 – The
gift of Living in the Divine Will establishes in the soul Jesus’ “Real Life”.
This Real Life is identical to Jesus’ “Real Presence” in the Eucharist, and it
is perpetuated in the soul who lives in the Divine Will. The Baltimore
Catechism affirmed that after one consumes the consecrated Host, the accidents
of bread remain in him for about 15 minutes, and then they are digested. In the
soul who lives in the Divine Will, Jesus tells Luisa that although the
accidents are consumed, his presence in the consecrated Host is perpetuated in
that soul, thus constituting his Real Life. By this means, the soul who lives
in the Divine Will becomes a “Living Host”, that is, another Jesus, interceding
on behalf of mankind.
2.3 – Spirituality
2.3.1 – The
Morning Offering in the Divine Will (see attachment): (Luisa also refers to
this as the “prevenient act”). Jesus asks that we recite this prayer at the
first rising of the day, for in doing so, we invite God’s one eternal operation
in all of our thoughts, words and actions throughout the day. Accordingly, God
absorbs our finite acts into his all-embracing operation that sustains and
enlivens all things. By his means, all that which we think, say and do,
sustains and enlivens all creatures throughout the cosmos.
2.3.2 – The
renewal of the Morning Offering throughout the day: (Luisa also refers to this
as the “present act”). Because distractions throughout the day may lessen the
efficacy of our Morning Offering prayer, we are asked renew it from time to
time during the day. This renewal may either be a repetition of the same
Morning Offering words, or it may be a simple aspiration of one or two
sentences in which we invite the Trinity to 7
continuously operate in
our memory, intellect and will, and continuously empower our breath, heartbeat,
life blood.
2.3.3 – The
“Rounds” in creation: Each day the soul seeks to requite the love God placed in
creation out of love for it, by going throughout creation adoring, thanking and
glorifying God. Here the soul “bilocates” itself within creation by assimilating
its thoughts, words and acts, with those of all humans, and it praises, adores
and thanks God on behalf of creatures of the cosmos. By assimilating in its
daily life its every, thought, word and action with those all creatures, the
soul divinizes the activity of all creatures. Indeed, Jesus tells Luisa that in
his hidden life his every breath, step, word, and even most menial acts,
divinized all human activity and the activity of all creatures – while his
Passion redeemed man, his hidden life divinized man.
Luisa
accomplished her Rounds with one of two movements of her soul. To better
illustrate this interior dynamic, her first interior movement is general,
whereby she offered to God the love, praise and thanksgiving of and for all
creatures at once. Her second interior movement is particular, whereby she
offers to God all things individually or in clusters, e.g., the acts of all
humans, the motions of the stars, of the trees, etc. Reminiscent of Daniel’s
chapter 3.57ff and David’s Psalm 148, she did her Rounds, but with God’s
eternal operation, she impacted all creatures concomitantly.
2.3.4 – The
repetition of the soul’s “divine acts”: Divine acts are the Trinity’s one
eternal operation (that transcends time and space and impacts all creatures
concomitantly) absorbing our finite acts in such a way that our acts impact all
creatures too. Such divine acts dispose all humans to receive the gift of
Living in the Divine Will, they help “set creation free from its slavery to
corruption” (Rom. 8), they dispose the world for a universal era of peace, and
they help realize on earth the fulfillment of the Our Father prayer: “Thy
kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
2.3.5 –
Meditation on The Hours of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ (see
attachment): This is perhaps the most indulgenced work Luisa wrote, as the
prayers contained in this meditation help save souls and avert calamities,
offer protection to souls and make reparation to God. Jesus tells Luisa that
those who regularly meditate on this 8
work, if they are
tempted, will overcome all weakness, and if they are imperfect, will become
holy and attain perfection. Moreover, he assures her that there is not a soul
that enters purgatory or heaven that does not benefit from these Hours of the
Passion.
2.3.6 –
Meditation on The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will’s 36
lessons that teach us how to Live in the Divine Will (see attachment):
These are daily meditations for each day during the month of May (including 5
extra lessons at the request of her confessor), but they may be used for
meditation during any month. As Jesus gave us lessons in 36 volumes, so here
Mary offers us 36 lessons.
2.3.7 – The 36
Volumes: These contain Jesus’ revelations to Luisa on how to Live in the Divine
Will. The 36 volumes comprise over 5,000 pages written by Luisa who possessed
little more than a first-grade education. Of the 36 volumes, the first group of
12 address the Fiat of Redemption, the second group of the 12 address
the Fiat of Creation, and the third group of 12 address the Fiat of
Sanctification. While Luisa wrote in scattered and uncoordinated manner,
her doctrine – as demonstrated in my doctoral thesis, remains unassailable. Her
36 volumes are primarily intended for the Church’s hierarchy, its priests and
bishops, whom Jesus calls to review and interpret them in light of Sacred
Scripture, Tradition and Magisterial teachings. These are to then convey them
to the laity with doctrinally sound and short teachings. Because few laity will
have the time to read over 5,000 pages, all 36 volumes have been systematically
presented and condensed in 400 pages for the laity in the thesis entitled, “The
Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta
(available online for purchase). This thesis was officially approved in 2013 by
the Pontifical University of Rome authorized by the Holy See.
2.3.8 – The
soul’s progression in the Divine Will: Some souls live imperfectly in the
Divine Will, other more perfectly, and yet others to the point of immersing
themselves completely in the Divine Will.
2.3.9 – The Four
Steps to Living in the Divine Will: Desire (admits us to this gift), knowledge
(advances us in this gift), virtue (anchors us in this gift), and life
(actualizes this gift).